My Worst Nightmare
by BellaDonna41387
Summary: Chanelle Howard-Jones is a young woman who had dreams and aspirations of being a singer but constant problems were holding her back. She decided to leave home and move to Seattle to start anew but it seemed things that were in the past won't stay there.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Testing the waters with this one. My friend helped me write this one. *WARNING: TROLLING WILL NOT BE TOLERATED! ANY KIND OF TROLLING WILL BE IMMEDIATELY REPORTED! I ALMOST DELETED ONE STORY BECAUSE I WAS INSULTED!* I have never wrote a crossover fan fic before so, I am sorry if it is not perfect or seems dumb.**

**(Please note: If you follow me and my other stories ****_Fifty Shades of Relived Memories or A Night to Remember_**** I finally got out the fog for those 2 stories and currently working on the chapters. Be patient ^_^) **

**Enjoy!**

**Chanelle's POV**

"Chanelle! Where do you want your box of dvd's to go?" My dad yells from the door. I moved from Philadelphia to Seattle for a career change. All my life I wanted to be a singer and an actress but I knew right off the bat my dad was having that. He was mad because I had auditioned for The Voice and made it all the way to the semi finals but I had to drop out because I got tonsillitis.

"Ummmm...You can slide those in the first room to your right!" I yell while running out to grab more boxes. I am so glad that my dad drove cross country with the movers to help me move. I bring in 2 more boxes and those were filled with clothes and shoes. My dad stops and grabs some water. I grab a glass and join him. "Dad, I seriously can't thank you enough for coming with me and to show my token of appreciation...this is for you." I hand him an envelope. He opens it and his mouth is wide open.

"Chanelle, I couldn't possibly keep all of this money but I will take the first class plane ticket back home." He says while handing her back the envelope. I step back and cross my arms in protest of the money.

"Dad! Take it! You can use it. There is enough for grandmom too! Just keep it please?" I give him the puppy dog eyes and he knew he couldn't resist it.

"Ok fine! I will take it." I smile and continues to bring in more boxes. Once finished, I hugged my dad and walked him to the cab headed for the airport. I gave him a kiss and he began to cry. The last time I saw him cry was at his father's funeral. I walked back into my new 4 bedroom home and began to unpack everything in my bedroom. My dad sat up the platform bed frame and my mattress. All of my furniture should be coming tomorrow. I sit on the mattress looking at pictures from my life in Philly. I shed a single tear because I missed all of my friends and family. My dad was helping me make mortgage payments as long as I paid my bills which wasn't a problem. I begin to pin up the pictures and hang up frames of my family. After getting my room together, I realize that I am hungry and I don't know if my car was delivered. I argued with my dad to bring my 2005 Volkswagen Passat over but he wanted me to have a brand new car. I am hoping I won that battle. I pull my hair up into a neat ponytail, grab my leather jacket and walked out to the kitchen. I notice a little envelope with my name on it. I pick it up and there is a key to a car.

**Dear Chanelle**

**I win :)**

**I will miss you. Have fun in Seattle.**

**Love **

**Dad**

Confused, I look at the key and noticed it is not my Passat key. It's a BMW key! I shake my head and smile. If I know my dad well enough, I know exactly what BMW he got me. I walk out of my house and hit the unlock button. I see the lights to a red 650i Convertible. I smile and begin to text my dad.

***Dad? What am I going to do with you. I love it and it matches your Z4. Thank you :) Where is the Passat by the way?***

I receive an almost immediate response and I am hoping he didn't trade it in.

_***You are going love me like you always do. I matched it to the Z4 because I wanted you to know that even though we're on opposite ends of the nation, you will always have a piece of me near you. Don't worry! I didn't trade in your Passat. Your cousin Aisha has it since she got her license.**__*_

I smile. I am glad Aisha got my old car. She originally wanted the Dodge Challenger but we all talked her out of it. I get into the car and I am almost in awe. It looks exactly like my dad's car, red exterior and tan interior. I turn it on and began to drive. I need to get a feel of how the traffic is in Seattle. I begin to drive on the main road. I turn on the radio and begin listening to "Chasing Cars" by Snow Patrol. I noticed a little bar having an awesome happy hour special. I pull in the parking lot and head in.

"Table for 1 or will you be sitting at the bar?" The hostess asked me. That's a very good question. I think for a minute.

"I'll sit at the bar. Thanks!" She gives me a smile and I make my way to the bar. It's the end of September and its a little chilly. I'm glad I grabbed my leather jacket. I think this weather is going to take some getting used to. It's football season and the T.V's in the bar are playing Sports Center. I am watching highlights from the Steelers-Ravens game which ended in an upset for Baltimore.

"Can I get you something sweetie?" The bartender asked. He is kind of cute. I smile and nod.

"Yeah! Can I get a Yuengling and an order of 8 buffalo wings please?" I say with a smile.

"You aren't from here. I can tell. Welcome to Seattle." The bartender says with a smile. Everyone here is so friendly. I think I may actually like it here. He sits the beer in front of me while he puts my order in.

"Thanks! I am starting to like it. I just moved in today so, I need to get used to being in a different time zone." I take a huge sip of my lager and finish watching sports center. The bartender smiles and I catch him. I smiled back. "What?" I say with a little chuckle.

"You aren't like any of the females in this city. You really love your sports huh?" The bartender says.

"Yeah! I am a football, baseball and hockey fan." I say. He shakes his head. "Why are you shaking your head?" I laugh. He walks up and places his elbow on the counter and begin to look me up and down.

"I can guess what teams you like. Let me take a stab at it." He says. I love when people do this. So I raised my eyebrow and waved my hand. "Ok! Judging by the color of your car when I seen you pull up, Baseball you are either a Red Sox, Cardinal, Nationals or Phillies fan. Football I am saying you are a Steelers fan and Hockey I am going to take a shot in the dark and say a Flyers fan." He says. I applaud him.

"If you guess the baseball team you will have all 3 right and yes I am a Steelers and Flyers fan." I say with a smile. There was a guy sitting next to me in a nice 3 piece Armani suit. He looks at my car and then looked at me and continued to drink. That was a bit awkward but there is something about his eyes that makes me kind of attracted to him. _That's how you met him! Don't fall for it!_ My subconscious is right. I can't have another upset like I did back when I was on the east coast.

"I am going to guess..." He is still thinking. "I am going with Philadelphia Phillies." I applaud and laugh.

"Congratulations! You are the only one who guessed all 3 correctly." He brings out my wings and gives me another beer. He walks away to help other customers. I am fixated on the T.V eating. After I finished eating, I pay for my food. I came across a poster highlighting a night for singers to come out and showcase their talent. I signed my name and gave them my phone number to call me back with more info. I walk out and hop in my car. I look and I see the Audi Q7 that I have been working so hard to get. I shake my head and laugh to myself. "Why get an Audi when you have the best brand of car in German engineering?" I whisper to myself patting my steering wheel. I pull off listening to "Titanium" by David Guetta feat Sia. I am mouthing the words as I smoothly make my way back to the house. I stop at a red light and my phone rings. I normally don't answer numbers I don't know but I will make this exception.

"Howard-Jones speaking."

"Hi Chanelle this is Tiffany calling from Star Bar. It seems that you are the only one who signed up for our talent showcase. Forgive me but are you the same Chanelle Howard-Jones from the first season of The Voice? I began to smile because those days being on the show and working with Christina Aguilera were the best!

"Yes. This is her! I take it you are a fan?" I chuckle lightly.

"Yes! I was routing for you but then you got tonsillitis and had to drop out. My world was crushed. I was calling to find out if you would like to do a 90 minute set to entertain the crowd tomorrow night? We will put it up on our Facebook page so we can get a large crowd. Are you game?" AM I GAME? OH MY GOD I AM READY! I haven't had the chance to sing in front of a large crowd since my incident 3 years back.

"Yeah! Thank you so much!" I smile from ear to ear and begin to do a little dance.

"Great! We will see you tomorrow night. If you can come around 7 to do a sound check that would be awesome."

"No problem. I will see you tomorrow." I hang up and I jump up and down in my seat. I pull up and my thoughts begin to wander. I wonder if there will be a record label there. I must look my absolute best. I run into my house and in my room and search my closet. I chose a tight white V-neck t-shirt, my black waistcoat, black skinny leg jeans and my black Christian Louboutin pumps. I choose my diamond drop earrings, my journey pendant and a diamond right hand ring my dad got for me and to top it off I have my black fedora hat. I am so ready for tomorrow.

**Christian POV**

"Taylor, I am taking the SUV. I need some time to myself." I say to him. I had a hard day today and it doesn't make it any better when I don't have anything to exert my frustration on. I would call Elena but those days are over. I head down to a bar that's not too far from Grey house. I park the car and head into the bar. "Can I get some brandy please?" The bartender notices there is something wrong.

"Woman problems?" The bartender is trying to make small talk and I just glare at him. "Ok! I am sorry I asked." He walks away to clean some glasses. I hear the door open. I turn and I am amazed by what I see. She is an ebony goddess. Her hair is in this cute ponytail and the way her jeans are hugging her hips it's making my mouth water. She sits 3 stools away from me and begins to watch T.V. She looks like she is from a rough area. I don't think she is from here. Judging by the way she walks and the leather jacket, she looks like an east coast type of girl or a southern bell turned rebel.

"Can I get a Yuengling and 8 buffalo wings please?" She asked the bartender. Her voice is so light and sweet. Her and the bartender get into a conversation. She is a sports fan. I never really cared for sports but if I had a chance with her, I would be all for her teaching me about sports. The bartender looks outside and looks at the red convertible parked next to my car. I begin to wonder what type of car she drives. She likes the Flyers hockey team and the Steelers football team. The bartender is trying to guess her favorite baseball team. I believe the choices were Red Sox, Nationals, Cardinals and Phillies. I take a gander at the car the bartender looked at and back at her. She looks at me and her eyes are bright and light brown. I quickly glance back down at my glass. "She is a Phillies fan." I whispered to myself. My guess is she is from either Pittsburgh or Philadelphia.

"I am going with the Philadelphia Phillies." The bartender said and she smiles. Her smile is too perfect and the way she giggles it is heart warming. I should say something to her. After she eats her wings, she begins to wipe her hands and leaves her money on the counter and walks away. _SAY SOMETHING GREY! _I just sit there and watched her walk away. She stopped in front of a poster board and signed something before hopping in her red convertible. Fuck! I had every opportunity to talk to her. I flagged the bartender and he comes walking over.

"I am paying for my drinks and her items." He looks confused and then he realized that I was talking about the girl sitting 3 stools down from me. I grabbed her money and put it in my pocket. I hope I get to see her again. I look at the sign and there is a talent showcase here every Thursday night. Now I have a name to the gorgeous face. I grab my cell phone and dial Welch.

"Welch! I need you to look up information on Chanelle Howard-Jones and shoot me an email once you find something." I hang up and I head out to my car and go home. The car ride home, I can only think about her. I have never been with a black girl before. She looks pretty down to earth. I put my phone on the hands free cradle and call Elliot.

"Yo Bro! What's up? You never call me." Elliot is such a joker.

"Elliot! What are you doing Thursday night?" I ask in hopes he will come with me. I know he will. As long as there are pretty girls in Seattle, he will go.

"Nothing bro! Trying to hang out somewhere?" Elliot ask with excitement. I am regretting this already.

"Yes. Star bar is having a talent showcase Thursday night. I wanted to know if you wanted to go." I asked.

"Sure. That's a pretty good bar." Elliot says. Of course he would know this because he gets out more than I do.

"Great. I'll pick you up around 7:30?"

"Sounds like a plan to me. See ya then Grey!" Elliot hangs up as I pull into Escala. I park the SUV and my email pings on my blackberry. I look and see it is from Welch.

Your mystery girl. She is pretty squeaky clean.

Name: Chanelle Marie Howard-Jones

Address: 213 100th avenue Seattle, Washington -Current

4915 North 18th Street Philadelphia,Pennsylvania-Birth home

120 5th Avenue New York, New York-Previous Address

Age: 25

Hair: Chestnut Brown

Eyes: Light Brown

Hometown: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Occupation: Unemployed currently

Jobs Held: Hostess- Fogo De Cho

Hostess- The Capital Grill

Bank teller- Citibank

College: Temple University: Bachelor's in Business Administration

Sexual Orientation: Straight

Relationships: Gideon Cross ended October 14th, 2011

Parents: Mother: Jessica Howard-42 Years Old

Father: David Jones-45 Years Old

Bank: Citibank

Account number: 87367182

Amount: $15,598.34

Criminal Record: N/A

Yup! She is pretty squeaky clean except she dated Gideon Cross of Cross Industries! I really hate that guy. He is too cocky for my liking. I wonder what she saw in him. I sit there and look at the information that I received. How can I get her to agree?


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: READ THIS BEFORE YOU READ THE CHAPTER. MY CHRISTIAN IS DIFFERENT! YOU DON'T LIKE IT STOP READING IT AND KEEP IT MOVING.**

**enjoy **

**Chanelle's POV**

I walk into my house and I turn my T.V on. I sit on the floor and begin to unpack some more of my things and I finally find my laptop. I turn it on and begin to look for a job. My dad gave me enough money to live off of for a couple months but I need to have my own money too. "Speaking of money. I need to check my account." I whisper to myself. I log onto my account and see how much money I am working with. When my account balance shows up, I am dumbfounded. I look at my phone and I have a text from my dad.

_***I told you that I didn't need the money. So enjoy your extra $5,500 honey. I love you.**__*_

Oh dad! I love you so much. I smile and continue to look for a job. I see that an Ad agency place needs an administration assistant. The name of the place is Jones,Weitzman, Shultz and it looks like they could pay well. I put in my application in hopes that they will call me back in the mean time I will go to different bars and restaurants ask if they are hiring. I am getting a bit beat so I head into my room and go to sleep.

The next morning, my phone goes off. I look to see who it is and its a number that I don't recognize. I sit up and answer my phone.

"Howard-Jones speaking" I am so tired and its so early.

"Hi! -Jones this Michelle Nelson calling from Jones, Weitzman, and Shultz. We received your application and would like to interview you for the Administration Assistant position. Would you be interested in coming in today around 2:30pm?" Oh God! This is awesome. I am practically trying to not bounce out of my bed.

"Yes! Sure! Thank you so much!" I say as calmly as I can.

"Great! We will see you at 2:30pm" We both hang up and I start to dance. I turn my laptop on and start to play "On The Floor" by Jennifer Lopez. Then there was a knock on the door. I walk out in my pajamas and open the door. My furniture is here! Today is shaping out perfectly.

About a hour and a half later, the men were finished putting things together and I paid them all and bought takeout for them. My house is finally just that. MY HOUSE! There are still a few boxes scattered about but I can deal with those later. I have an interview to get to. I run into my room and put on "Greyhound" by Swedish House Mafia. I picked out my navy blue 3 piece Donna Karen New York skirt suit, my good luck pumps and a feather necklace with my diamond studs. I sit in front of the mirror and curl my hair. I look at myself in the mirror and I am happy with my choice. I grab my keys, my resume and my purse and I am out the door. Its pretty warm out today so I decide to bring the top down so my hair can naturally fan itself out.

20 minutes later, I am in front of 2 large buildings. One had Grey House etched in the door and the other one was a plain building. I parked my car and just stood there marveling over the Grey House building. "Man this building is almost as tall as the Comcast Building back home." I whispered to myself. I shook my head and walked towards the other building. I have this very erie feeling that someone is watching me but I shrug it off and walk inside. It's very busy. So busy I feel a bit intimidated. I walk up to security with the hugest smile on my face.

"Hi! My name is Chanelle Howard-Jones. I am here for an interview with Jones,Weitzman, and Shultz at 2:30pm." The security guard looks for my name and hands me a visitors badge and points me into the direction of the elevators. I am to go to the 10th floor and hang a right. While in the elevator, my nerves are starting to get the best of me. I get off the elevator and walk right into the archway of the ad agency. The receptionist is a cute blonde with blue eyes.

"Hi! Can I help you?" She ask. I smile. Her personality is just too cute

"Hi! I am Chanelle. I have an interview today at 2:30pm" I say. I can't stop smiling. The last couple of hours have been completely awesome for me.

"Ok. You can have a seat right there and John will be right with you." I nod and make my way to the seats behind me. "Would you like some coffee or tea or water?" She asks.

"Some water would be lovely thank you." She walks to the back and I am looking around and this ad agency has done some big things like Britney's fragrances. I am actually wearing Fantasy right now. I giggle to myself. The receptionist brings me back a bottle of smart water. I see this young brunette gentleman come out.

"Chanelle? Hi! I am John Grossman. How are you?" I stand up and give him a firm handshake.

"Hello! How are you today?" I flash my innocent smile to him.

"Great. Let's head back to my office." I walk behind him following him to his office. We finally get there and his office is a normal size. Very comfortable if you ask me. "So Chanelle. You are interviewing for our administration position. You have your bachelor's in business administration from Temple. I'm an alum from Temple. Go Owls! Tell me why would you like to work here" I begin to laugh softly. I think to myself this should be an easy win for me.

"Well John, let me first say Go Owls! Second, I would love to work for an ad agency because I feel like this is a place that I can utilize my skill set and bring something new to the company. I'm always chock full of ideas." John smiles and begins to write something down.

"That was a very educated answer Chanelle. Tell me what do you like to do in your free time?" I get nervous when employers ask this question because I feel like its a make or break question.

"I am a singer/songwriter, on the weekends back home in Philly, I would bartend in south Philly bars and nightclubs, I read a lot of novels mainly romance novels and I paint landscapes if I have the time plus I love to write short stories." He looks impressed.

"Wow! You do more than I do. I used to party at Fat Tuesday's on south street. I love those 190 Octanes." I begin to smile. I miss those 190 octanes.

"I would mix the 190 Octanes with eye candy. It was incredibly yummy." I say while laughing. He smiles and writes something down.

"You know what Chanelle? I think you are a wonderful woman. I would love to give you the position. Would you be able to start Monday?" Trying not to be too ecstatic, I nod.

"Yes. Oh thank you so much John! I look forward to working with you and everyone else here." He smiles and hands me a camera card.

"You want to take that back down to security so you can get your ID badge. I will see you on Monday 8:30 am." I get up and shake his hand.

"8:30am. Got it. Have a good day John." I walk out calmly and press the elevator button to go downstairs. While in the elevator, I start doing the party rock shuffle. I am so happy that I got a job on my first try! I reach the first floor and handed the visitors badge back and my camera card. The security officer took me into an office and took my picture. My ID was done in under 5 minutes. I place it in my purse and walked out to my car. Today has been awesome. I get into my car and call my dad using the speakerphone in my car.

"Hello?" My dad sounds sleepy

"Hey dad! Just calling to let you know I got a job at an ad agency and I start Monday." I say

"Way to go! Congrats Chanelle. What are you going to do to celebrate?"

"Nothing much! Just go back home and stretch out on my new furniture." I didn't want to tell him that I am singing at the bar tonight because that would have turned into a whole lecture about its not safe to be out that late.

"Okay Chanelle. I will call you tomorrow. I love you." He says and I begin to tear up.

"I love you too dad. Tell mom I love her too."

"Will do! See ya later." We both hang up. I turn the car on and looked up. I see the same Audi Q7 from yesterday. I really wish I could afford the maintenance on the car. I smile and pull off into the light traffic and head back to my house. I stop at a subway to grab me a sandwich. I really need to go shopping for food so, I decided to make a quick detour at the supermarket to grab a month worth of food for me to live off of. I am loving Seattle right now. This was the best decision I have made!

**Christian's POV**

It's the afternoon and I need out of the office for a minute. I walk out of my office and told Andrea to forward my calls to the blackberry. I am feeling a bit hungry so I decided to make a trip to the deli down the way. I get outside of my building and I see the red convertible from last night. "So she drives a BMW 650i. She has taste." I whisper to myself. I frantically look up and down the street to see if I can catch her then I see someone stop in the middle of my building and the building next door. I think its her. She turns and begins to walk away into the building and I know for a fact that's her. "She cleans up well." I whisper again. Taylor gets out of the car and opens my door.

"The deli Taylor." I tell him

"Yes sir! If you don't mind me asking. Who were you staring at?" I shoot Taylor a cold look and he instantaneously caught the hint. "My apologies sir." We arrive at the deli and I walk in to grab me a turkey sandwich. 15 minutes later I am back in front of my building. Taylor let's me out and I turn to look at the BMW and I see she is having a conversation with someone. She is just beautiful. I turn and walk back into the building. I turn around and she was gone. I will see her again tonight! I must know more about her. I walk back into the building and make my way back to my office. Why is she weighing heavy on my mind? Am I really that attracted to her? I can only think about when she walked into the bar wearing that leather jacket. I begin to smile and slouch back into my chair.

"Mr. Grey! You have a John Grossman on the phone." Andrea said.

"Ok. Give me a minute." I wipe my hands and pick up the phone. "John! How are you doing today?" I say

"Hello Mr. Grey. Things are going well so far. I was calling you to schedule that appointment to meet. My boss's gave me the go ahead to set up the meeting. So when would you like to do it?" He says trying to sound professional but he knows that with me as partner it could take the company to new levels.

"How about Monday 12:30pm?" I say. I can order a catered lunch st least I don't have to go anywhere or anything.

"Sounds like a plan Mr. Grey. I will see you then." He hangs up and I go back to eating my sandwich.

**Chanelle's POV**

It's 6:45 and I am running hella late. I couldn't find any of my makeup, my flat irons or my fedora. I finally found them all in one box. I look at myself and spray some of my Dolce and Gabana no. 6 on and put on my reading glasses. I grab my leather jacket and haul ass out of my door.

I make it to the Star Bar and there is a line forming outside. Oh man this is crazy! I walk to security and told them I was performing and they let me right in. I see Tiffany setting up the stage. She turns around and sees me then smiles.

"Hi Chanelle! Can I just say that I am a big fan of yours and that i'm so sorry about what happened. You look cute tonight. Are you ready? I heard there is a long line outside already." I nod frantically. "Are you nervous?" She laughs. I didn't think people recognized me. I tried to look normal.

"A little. I haven't done one of these in such a long time. You seem nervous too." I say laughing

"I am! I am in the presence of you. I absolutely loved your version of 'Hurt'. Don't worry about the crowd. They are really cool here so, don't fret about a thing. Let's get you up here. Would like a stool so you can sit every now and then?" She asked.

"Yes please. I might end up going barefoot by the end of the night." We both laugh and she walks to get a stool. I start to walk around to get a feel of the stage. I test out the microphone with a line from some of the songs that were popping up in my head. Tiffany comes back with a stool.

"You know what songs you want to do or are you going to wing it?" I thought about that but never came up with a decision. "Don't worry our band can play almost anything!" Well that is one less stress off my back. I see that it is close to 8pm. Showtime! I run off to the back and Tiffany places a bucket of ice with water bottles in them next to the stool. "Ok! I am going to introduce you and you come out and you do your thing ok?" I nod and she walks out on stage. I hear everyone filing in and my nerves are getting to me but my excitement is truly present. I can't stop jumping.

"HEY STAR BAR! HOW ARE YOU DOING TONIGHT!?" There was a loud cheer. This is so exciting. "Ok! So I would like to introduce to you a girl who just moved to the Seattle area. She is a little nervous so be nice!" Everyone laughs a little bit. "Let's give her a big welcome to seattle. Ladies and gentleman! You know here from Team Christina from the first season of The Voice. Give it up for Chanelle Howard-Jones!" I walk out and everyone is clapping. I take a small bow and have a seat on the stool.

"Hello Seattle! How are you?" They are all screaming and clapping. "I haven't done this in a while so bear with me. I will start out with something upbeat. I am going to sing "Rumor Has It" by Adele." The crowd goes wild. The band begins to play and instantly I am comfortable. I start to belt out the lyrics to the song. I am having fun.

**Christian's POV**

"Elliot! What the hell are you doing let's go! I want to get there before the line gets long." Elliot begins to laugh. I would like to know what's so funny.

"Christian. Are you serious? You don't stand in lines. Security sees you and they let you in automatically. Besides, I called ahead and they reserved a table for us." I let out a sigh of relief. Elliot is right. I don't do lines. They generally see me pull up and I am granted instant access. Elliot is finally downstairs and we leave. Taylor opens the back door for us to climb in and we are on our way. "So what made you want to go out Mr. I am too busy for fun." Elliot laughs and I shoot him with a cold stare.

"I just want to go out. I could use a break." Elliot looks at me and snickers.

"Christian! Someone has your attention and they will be at this bar tonight won't they?" Damnit! I hate when Elliot is right! Chanelle has really got my attention. I have never been with a black girl before but then again the way the media portrays them, it's not a good look. She is different. She has class, beauty, and a winning attitude _plus she has a slamming body and the butt is perfect for her frame. You could flog her all day and watch that ass become a deep red. _I shake my head trying to dismiss that thought. We finally pull up to Star Bar and Elliot hops out of the car to talk to the security guard. I walk up and the security guard gives me a hand shake then we walk in. We stop at the hostess stand and she leads us to our table. I am grateful that the lights are dim. I am hoping she won't notice me.

"Can I get you boys anything?" The hostess said with a smile on her face. Elliot goes on to place the order.

"2 beers and...bro you want to split the buffalo wings? They are so good here." Elliot is praising these wings and I am brought back to when she ordered her buffalo wings. She ate them so delicate like. "BRO! Snap out of it. You want to split them or no?" I shake my head.

"Yeah! I will." I continue to look on stage and I am waiting for to come out.

"So Christian. What's her name? I know you got all of her information from your security guy." I really want to punch Elliot in the face right now.

"Her name is Chanelle Howard-Jones." I say as I roll my eyes. Elliot gasps in horror. Oh God don't tell me he has gotten to her first.

"Wait! THE Chanelle Howard-Jones?" Oh my fear is coming to life he did get to her first. I want to go home now. I let out a sigh of defeat.

"Yes. Why and how do you know this?" I am regretting this question already.

"Dude! She was on the first season of The Voice! I was pulling for her to win but she had got tonsillitis right before the semi finals and had to drop out of the competition. I am a big fan of hers! Where is she?" Elliot asked as the crowd goes crazy. The show is about to start. There was a female who walked up to the microphone.

"HEY STAR BAR! HOW ARE YOU DOING TONIGHT!?" the crowd is really going crazy and there are a lot of people here for it to be a talent showcase. "Ok! So I would like to introduce to you a girl who just moved to the Seattle area. She is a little nervous so be nice! Let's give her a big welcome to Seattle. Ladies and gentleman! You know her from Team Christina on the first season of The Voice. Give it up for Chanelle Howard-Jones!" The crowd goes wild and there she is. She went for a nerdy look but those Christian Louboutin pumps look great on her. They make her legs longer. She is an absolute goddess.

"Hello Seattle! How are you? I haven't done this in a while so bear with me. I will start out with something upbeat. I am going to sing 'Rumor Has It' by Adele." Then the band started playing. She belts out the melody and not only does she have the body of a goddess, she has the voice of an angel.

"Christian! Isn't she good?" Elliot is excited to see her. I am more so in awe of her. I want her more than anything right now.

"She is amazing Elliot! Her voice is perfect." The song ends and everyone is clapping and taking pictures. I want to walk to the front of the stage and just listen to her. I get up and begin to walk to the front of the stage. I hope I don't derail her.

"Bro?! Where are you going?" Elliot says. I look back winked at Elliot and continued to walk to the front of the stage.

**Chanelle's POV**

"Thank you guys!" I say with a smile on my face. I am a huge fan of Kelly Clarkson so for my next number I will sing 'Dark Side' The band starts up and I begin to sing. I feel comfortable. I'm back in my element. I love being on stage. I love entertaining a large crowd. I walk to the other side of the stage and I see him. The guy from yesterday. From what I can see he looks cute in a evil sort of way. I wonder how he knew I was here tonight. He looks too exclusive to be in a bar like this. I purposely walk to his side and begin to sing to him. I smile and winked at him as I ended the song. The crowd erupts into a deafening applause. I smile and take a bow.

"Thanks you so much for coming out tonight. I want to interact with you guys a little. Since I knew this event was on Facebook, how many of you recognize me from The Voice and came out tonight to see me sing?" The crowd applauded loudly again. I laughed. I figured that was the reason there was such a large crowd. "This next song is dedicated to someone I kind of met yesterday." The crew rolls out a piano on stage. "This song is called 'Sway' by Vanessa Carlton. Enjoy" I begin to play the chords and get into the song.

"_Say you would, say you could  
say you'd come and stop the rain  
say you'd try and hold me tight  
and you just give me away  
make me high on lullabies  
a melody for me to sway  
Say you would, Say you could_

_You don't do anything"_

I take a peek up to see if he is watching me and he is. He is smiling softly and I begin to smile too. I play the finishing chords onto the song and the crowd applauds. I get up and I take a bow. "Ok guys I am going to take a quick 15 minute break and I will be back. Please talk amongst yourself, grab a girl and buy her a drink!" I walk off stage and head out to the back. I am checking my phone when suddenly I see someone standing in front of me. I begin to smile and shake my head.

"You know you shouldn't be back here." I say while texting and checking my Facebook.

"Well, I was told that a certain singer would be back here. I really like your singing Chanelle." I look up and I am in complete awe of this man. I am looking at this guy with scorching gray eyes and dark copper hair. He is dressed in a white dress shirt unbutton at the top and black slacks. He has me frozen in this spot. I really didn't recognize his eyes yesterday but damn he has some gorgeous eyes.

"H...h...hi! I am Chanelle..." I shakily held my hands out for him to shake. "You are the guy from yesterday." He smiles as he takes my hand and plants a soft kiss. I can feel my face heat up.

"I'm Christian Grey and yes I am the guy from yesterday. Can I say that you are an amazing singer. I especially love the song by Vanessa Carlton. What was it called again?" He begins to think.

"Sway. I am a big Vanessa Carlton fan. Are you enjoying the show Mr. Grey?" I ask. My knees begin to hurt so I stand up and lean against the wall. He walks up and puts both hands on each side of my head and began to lean closer.

"Well, right now Ms. Howard-Jones I am." He says with some deep dark intent. _BREAK'S OVER! _My subconscious yells at me! She is right! Time to go! I feel hot and I need to break this now. I can't seem to catch my breath. I need to escape. Time for one of my famous white lies.

"As much as I would love to stay and chat, I'm need back on stage." I say as I duck under his arms and walk in the back door. I find a bathroom and throw some cold water on my face. "Fuck! Why is he so damn hot? Come on Chanelle! Get it together" I whisper. I walk back on stage and take a cool sip of my water and now he is front and center. Ok Grey! I can guarantee you won't get to me. Time to pull out the big guns. "Are you guys having fun?" The crowd goes wild. "This song goes out to a man that I am now in complete awe of. I'm going to sing the new hit single from my mentor Aguilera. This is 'Your Body'" The crowd goes wild as the music starts. I walk over to him and bend down to look into his eyes.

_"I don't need to know where you've been,  
All I need to know is you and no need for talking.(hey boy)  
So don't even tell me your name,  
All I need to Know is whose place,  
And let's get walkin'._

All I wanna do is love your body.  
Ooooh oooh oooh oooh.  
Tonight's your lucky night, I know you want me.  
Ooooh oooh oooh oooh."

I walk away with a little sway and I can see him smirking. I love singing this song but I try to pull myself away from the gravitational pull that is Christian Grey. It feels so good to be back on the stage.

After my 90 minute set, I grab a bottle of water and begin to walk out of the bar then Tiffany stops me.

"Hey Chanelle. Thank you so much for singing tonight. This is from all of us at the bar." She hands me an envelope. I look in and there is money in it. "We didn't know if we should pay you or not but we all agreed it would be nice to pay you $5,000." Oh I was doing this for fun. I didn't need any monetary gifts.

"That's sweet of you but I don't need this. I was doing this for the fun of it." I try to hand her back the envelope. She shook her head and told me to keep it. I give her the biggest hug and I walk out of the bar. I walk to my car to find a bouquet of white and red roses with a card.

**Chanelle:**

**You were absolutely amazing tonight.**

**Let's do lunch sometime.**

**Here is my number**

**C.G**

I smile like an idiot and get in my car. I turn my car on and begin to drive off. I am having the best night ever. I finally get home. I park my car and walk inside. I find a vase to put the roses in and sit it on the living room table. I begin to strip into my underwear and lay down on my bed. I turn on my computer and notice Crystal is on oovoo. I decide to give her a quick message.

**THERE IS SO MUCH I NEED TO TELL YOU BUT I AM SLEEPY! I WILL CALL YOU IN THE AM!**

I receive a message directly after

_OK! I MISS YOUR FACE TERRIBLY AND I AM PLANNING TO COME OUT TO SEE YOU SOON SO PENCIL ME IN WILL YA? OH! AND DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT TIME IT IS HERE IN PHILLY? I LOVE YOU NELLY BELLY!_

**WELL EXCUSE ME! YOU'RE THE ONE WHO IS THE NIGHT OWL LOL! I MISS YOU TOO CRYSTAL 3**

I close my laptop and crawled into my bed and fell asleep. I wake up in a field with long grass. I am wearing a long white maxi dress. I see a male figure so I decided to run toward him. As I ran, the clouds turned gray and it began to rain. I ran into him. He smells so good.

"Stay away from me Chanelle. I'm dangerous." He says. I look up and noticed it was Christian holding an object in his hands. I can't make out what it is. All of a sudden I am unable to move. Where am I? I look and notice my hands were cuffed to something. The room was dark and I could barely see. "I told you to stay away from me." He says as he begins hitting me with the object but I can't make out what it is for the life of me.

"STOP IT! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Why is he doing this to me? I look up and I see him. It wasn't Christian! "GIDEON? GIDEON STOP IT!" He begins to laugh evilly and I wake abruptly. "What the fuck was that about?" I whisper to myself. I look over to my clock and its 10:15am. I put my head in my hands and make my way to the bathroom. I put on an over-sized sweat shirt and my sweats and walk to the kitchen. I need a glass of wine but in the mean time I will settle for orange juice. I need to get out but where do I go? I don't know anything or anybody here. Then the thought hits me. I will join a gym today! I look at my stomach and I could lose a good 5 pounds or so. I grab a long sleeve shirt and kept my sweats on and made my way to the car. I drive until I see this awesome looking gym. I walk in a asked to speak to a member services associate. I got a quick tour of the place and like that I became a member. The thought hits me that I need to do something with one of the other rooms. I was thinking about making it into a small studio for me to practice in. I decided to make my way to a music store. I drive around and I am happy at the fact there is a Guitar Center here. I walk in and already I know what I want. I need a new guitar because my other one is still at home.

I finish shopping and headed back to my house. I take everything into the room and set up the mic stand the amps and my guitar and guitar stand. I have enough space to put a piano in but I don't know if I am ready to make that investment. I do like my keyboard but there is something about a grand piano that I love. I look at the clock and it is almost 4:30. I begin to play chords on the keyboard and start to sing "My Immortal" by Evanescence.I stop playing and I take my phone out of my purse and the note card that Christian had with the flowers fell on the floor. I picked it up and looked at it. Maybe I should call him. I am way too nervous to call him! Maybe he won't know who it is if I call and he will ignore the call. _STOP BEING A PANSY AND CALL HIM! _My subconscious is right again. I need to stop being scared of everything and just do it! I unlock my phone and looked at it for a minute.

"Here goes nothing!" I whisper as I dial his number.


	3. Chapter 3

**Christian's POV**

The next day, I wake up and I can only think about Chanelle. I have never had an interest in dating let alone making a black girl my submissive until I saw her 2 days ago. Everything about her is too perfect. I wish I had the chance to talk to her more. I hope she got the flowers that I got for her. She was absolutely amazing last night. I am sitting in my office doing some more work. My phone buzzes and I am hoping its her but no its Elliot to harass me.

"Elliot." I say coldly

"Whoa bro! What's eating you? You sound pissed! Did Chanelle call you yet?" He is slowly irritating me with the questions.

"No! Now that you said something, she probably won't!" I gritted through my teeth. I don't mean to be that way toward Elliot but he is slowly bothering me. "Look, I am doing work. I will call you back." I hang up and run my hands through my hair and drown myself into work.

I am finally done and then my phone rings. Please let it be Chanelle. I look and I feel a smile creep up on my lips.

"Well. It's about time you called." I say

**Chanelle's POV**

"Well, hello to you too . Please bear with me. I am a little nervous to talk to you and quite frankly I have no idea how this conversation should go...Wait! How did you know it was me?" I chuckled a bit and he giggled. His giggle made me feel even happier.

"Don't be nervous. You probably don't want to know. Actually, what are you doing tonight? I would like to take you out unless you were looking to have a night in." He says. There is something telling me not to trust him. My mind is telling me to back away but my heart wants to give it a shot. Could I really try after my incident? What if this dude ends up being a whack job and he is really just trying to kill me? I guess I should try it. I don't know anyone here so I guess I could use a friend.

"I was actually about to cook something for dinner. Would you like to come over? I do have one requirement. Bring over a bottle of champagne! I am fresh out!" I laugh and I hear him chuckle in the background.

"Great. Do you have a preference?" He asked. I flip through my minds memory but I can't pick one.

"Surprise me. Do you need the..." The line clicks. I think he hung up. "address." I sigh! How is he going to get here if he doesn't have my address? I begin to take the steak out of the fridge and season them and put them in the oven. I am cutting up my potatoes and seasoning them as well and put them in the oven with the steaks. I take the asparagus out and saute those in a non stick skillet when I heard a knock at the door. I wonder who that could be.

I look out my window to see the same Audi Q7 sitting in my driveway. I open the door and see him. It's Christian holding 2 bottles of Cristal. He is wearing a black blazer, black slacks and a light gray shirt with no tie. Could he be any hotter? WAIT! How the hell does he know where I live?!

"So you are the one with the Audi Q7 and do I even want to ask?" I asked while I crossed my arms. He begins to smile. Geez red flag #1-Stalker!

"If I told you, you might kick me out before I even step foot in the door." I smile back and turn on my heels. He stands there looking confused. Does he need a flare signal to come in.

"You know you can come in. I did invite you here after all." I say while walking to go check my food. He closes the door and makes his way to my kitchen.

"Chanelle! It smells heavenly in here." I smile and look back at him.

"Thanks! You could thank my great grandmother for that. She is the one who taught me how to cook." I see him walking around about in my house and he is whistling as he moves about. "I take it you like the house." I say while checking the asparagus and grabbing 2 plates.

"Even though I have a designer, I would love to know the name of the person who did this. Chanelle this is beautiful. All you really need is a few paintings." I smile and look up at him, raising my eyebrow. "So, who designed your home?" He ask. He is actually serious.

"You don't have to look far Mr. Grey. You are looking at the designer." His jaw is on the floor stunned by the revelation that I designed this house all by myself. "The color of the house I consulted with my dad but this was my pet project especially since I was moving here. Everything is practically brand new. I needed everything to be perfect before the move." He is impressed I think. He looks at me and smiles again. I could never tire of that.

"Wow! Chanelle you have quite the resume. You are a singer and interior designer. What else do you do?" He asks._ She has many skills and one of them is a sniper. Her friends took her to a gun range and showed her how to use a sniper rifle. So, I suggest for him to tread carefully. _My subconscious says under breath. She needs to hush!

"Well, I am a certified Medical Assistant, Bartender and my newest one on my list is Administration Assistant to Jones,Weitzman and Shultz ad agency." I can see that he is really impressed. Dinner is ready and I plate it up and move the plates to the dining room table. He grabs a bottle of champagne and two glasses out of my cabinet.

We sit next to each other and my mind and heart began to race. I have this gorgeous man sitting next to me, eating what I cooked. I hope he likes it. I begin to look at him as he took a bite of the steak. He closes his eyes and moaned with delight. He likes it! I know he does!

"Chanelle! This steak is cooked to perfection! Are you sure you aren't an undercover chef?" I laugh at the thought.

"I wanted to be a chef when I was younger but I like to cook for fun. It would hurt me too much if someone didn't like my cooking so, I only cook for my family and friends...well...for myself now because I don't have anyone here with me." I look at my hands folded in my lap. Christian stops eating and looks at me crossed.

"You moved to a state where you don't have any family or friends? Why?" A single tear escaped my eye. I wasn't ready to talk to anyone about my incident especially not someone I have just met 15 hours ago. The only person in my family that knows is my dad and he isn't telling anyone else. My family loves to over-react.

"I needed to escape! Philadelphia was just too much for me. I needed to be somewhere new. Somewhere relaxing." I let out a sigh and he smiled a little.

"Well, you chose a great spot. It's very peaceful over here." He says as he gets back into the steak I made. I begin to eat and even I am in awe of my cooking. Shit! I haven't made a steak this good in forever. The memory of burning the steak at my grandmother's house brings a huge smile to my face. I began to cover up my chuckle and Christian is staring at me. "Something funny?" I look at him and I shook my head

"Sorry! I was thinking of something." He relaxes some more. I kind of don't want this night to end. I took a sip of the champagne and i'm impressed. I haven't had champagne like this before. It's so light! We finally finish up and I take the plates in the kitchen. While I rinse off the plates to put them in the dishwasher, he pour me more champagne and brings my glass over.

"So, what else did you have planned?" I can feel his eyes all over me and I don't want to move. I can't move. It feels like he has glued me to one spot.

"Well, I was going to head to my sanctuary if you want to follow me." I say. I see his brow raise. Is he confused or what. "I call my makeshift studio my sanctuary. It brings me peace when I can sing and sometimes I write songs. Speaking of which, I need to grab my candles. If you don't mind there is a box next to my couch full of candles. Can you bring them to me?" I send him to get the box while I set up. He walks in and he is amazed by how I transform a room into a studio.

"Chanelle this is really impressive." He looks around and he noticed the small Buddha statue I have on my window. "You are Buddhist?" I smile and nod.

"I have been for a couple of years now. It especially helps me when I am overly stressed out. So, when I come in here, I can play my music and meditate." I sit down near my guitar and he sits behind my keyboard. He looks and sees that I was playing My Immortal. He begins to play the chords to the song and I smile.

"I take it you play piano?" I smile. He nods but I feel like there is something deeper. He looks pained when he plays. Maybe playing is his therapy just like it is with me. "I am suppose to play for you silly. Do you have any requests?" I say while picking up my acoustic guitar.

"Surprise me. I love your singing." He says while smiling. I smile back and I decide on a song.

"Ok. I am going to sing 'Best Friends' by Amy Winehouse." I set up and play the song. I can see him out of the corner of my eye adoring me.

"_You're Stephanie and I'm Paulette _

_You know what all my faces mean_

_And it's easy to smoke it up,_

_forget Everything that happened in between"_

I finish playing the song and he claps. "That was beautiful." I smile and begin to chuckle. I think I could have done better.

"Thanks. So do you know how to play any songs from today on the piano?" He smiles and begins to play. He begins to play 'Tangled Up In You' by Staind. I love this song and I begin to play the notes on my guitar. I begin to sing the song and Christian is watching me get into the song. He sings the song with me.

After we finish, I noticed that it was getting late. I need to go to bed. "As much as I would love to sing till the sun comes up, I need to kick you out. I am sleepy and need to get up early." I get up and start to blow out the candles. Christian comes up behind me and puts his arm around my waist. My whole body becomes stiff and he backs away. "Christian...I..." He shakes his head.

"No. I am sorry. I moved in way to fast! I should get going. Thanks for dinner." I try to catch him before he walks out of my studio door. By the time I was able to reach my front door, he was already driving down my street. I slid down the door and began to cry.

"Fuck Gideon! Why the fuck did you leave me this damaged?" I whisper to myself.

**Christian's POV**

Her body got tense when I tried to pull her close to me. What is she so apprehensive about? Maybe she has had a bad childhood like I did. I drive back to Escala in deep thought. What's wrong with that beautiful angel? She seemed like she was pained especially when she plays her guitar. I lock up the car and head upstairs to my apartment. Once, I get there I begin to play the piano and I know I am going to play well into the night.

Monday is here and I just want to blow through this day. I am in my office and I call in Andrea. She walks in and has a seat in front of me. "Ok! I need a rundown of all of my meetings and appointments."

"Mr. Grey for today, you have a meeting with the ad agency next door at 12:30pm and a appointment with Gideon Cross from Cross industries at 2pm, You also have a meeting with the president of WSUV today at 4. Is there anything else you need Mr. Grey?" She ask me and I am deep in thought. I've heard those names before. I shake my head to bring myself out of my thoughts.

"No Andrea that will be all thank you." She nods and walks out. Ad agency next door? CHANELLE! I hope I can see her. I wonder if I should call and make sure she comes to this meeting. I pick up my phone and call the building next door.

"John Grossman's office. Chanelle speaking. How can I help you?" Her voice sounds so lovely and I replay her giggle in my mind. "Hello?" Shit! I forgot why I called.

"Yes! John Grossman please." I say in my business voice.

"Ok! May I ask who is calling." Shit! Here goes nothing.

"Mr. Christian Grey." I say and I heard a small gasp on the phone. That brought a smile to my face.

"Um...hold on one second please Mr. Grey." I hear the line click and I am smiling like an idiot.

"Mr. Grey hello. I am looking forward to our meeting today. Is there something wrong?" I smile some more.

"No! I would like you to bring your assistant Chanelle with you to the meeting. She might have some ideas we could use! She sounds like a very bright woman."

"She is Mr. Grey! I will bring her. We should be over in 10 minutes." Great I can explain everything to her after the meeting. I need to get everything ready. "Andrea! Order lunch from the deli for my first clients." I hope this goes over well.

Chanelle's POV

Today is my first day of work and I truly love this place. I decided to go all out with my wardrobe. I have on a silk navy blue blouse and a gray pencil skirt with my Christian Louboutin pumps. My hair is flowing over my shoulders with a navy blue bow clip on the side. I think I look highly presentable. My phone rings and I look to see if it's an outside call. It is.

"John Grossman's office. Chanelle speaking. How can I help you?" I always got made fun of when I answered the phone. The line is silent. I really hope no one if playing on the phone! "Hello?"

"John Grossman please." The man on the other end sounds utterly familiar but it can't be him. I don't think I am ready to face him again.

"May I ask who is calling?" I love when I try to sound all professional.

"Mr. Christian Grey." I gasp. I knew it! Know I am going to be thinking about him and I truly don't want to.

""Um...hold on one second please Mr. Grey." I put him on hold and I transfer the call to John. I walk up to grab a cup of coffee. I need some whiskey in this coffee. I sit back down and begin to finish typing out a report. I get another call but this time its from John. "Hey John! What's up?"

"Hey Chanelle! Can I see you in my office please?" I gasp. Fuck! It's only the first day and already I am getting called into the office. What did I do wrong?

"Yeah sure! Give me a sec." I say I hang up the phone. I grabbed my notebook and a pen and walked back to his office. "You wanted to see me?" He nodded and told me to close the door.

"Chanelle, you have been invited to come to my presentation next door. The guy who owns the company wants to become a partner and the big heads upstairs want me to give a reason why he should join in with us. You were asked by name though so maybe you could give the extra boost we need." I look at him puzzled.

"I was asked by name? I don't know anyone here!" Who could've asked for me unless it was leaked by TMZ that I was living here. John looks at me and looks at the clock and widen his eyes.

"Crap! We have to go!" He grabs my hand and we run to the elevator. Within 5 minutes we were standing in the massive building going upstairs to the meeting. I am nervous because I don't know what to expect. John walks over to the secretary and let's her know we are here for a 12:30 appointment. She walks us into this extravagant office. Man, this is lovely. I turn around and I am frozen in place. HE OWNS GREY ENTERPRISES HOLDINGS?! WHY DID I NOT PUT TWO AND TWO TOGETHER?! I begin to feel dizzy.

"Mr. Grey thank you for having us meet today. This is my assistant..." Christian interrupts his greeting.

"Good afternoon Ms. Howard-Jones. How are you this afternoon?" He walks up to me and shakes my hand while he leans into my ear. "Can we please talk after this meeting? What I did was wrong and i'm sorry." He leans back up.

"Good afternoon Mr. Grey. I am fine. It is a pleasure to be here. Thank you for inviting me." I give him a cold look and took my place next to John.

"I would rather us be closer since it's just us 3" Christian pulls out a chair next to his and I walk to it. I am hesitant to sit down. "Please do sit down Ms. Howard-Jones" And like that my legs disobey me and I sit. Christian brings me over a roast beef sandwich. "I hope you like it. It's my favorite from the deli down the way."

John starts his power point presentation while I begin to work on this roast beef sandwich. Man this thing is delicious. I found my new lunch spot to go to. I am lost in my own thoughts. Looking at Christian dressed in a black Prada suit with a white shirt and a silver gray tie to match the buttons on the jacket. His hair is a little unruly but still sat in a place where it looked presentable. I want to cut his hair. I begin to bite my bottom lip.

"That's great John! What is your take on all of this Chanelle? I would love to hear why I should join the company." I'm brought out of my thoughts and began to smile. I have no clue as to what happened but I will do what I do best...Wing it!

"Well Mr. Grey, seeing as though this is my first day and from the people I have talked to, I think your partnership with our agency will make us well known. I hear you are a pretty big deal and will do anything to help a company succeed and with your name on in the mix, we can guarantee that we at Jones, Weitzman and Shultz will not disappoint you. I promise that our work will be second to none." I take my seat. Wow! Where did that come from. I look at the clock and it is nearly 2 in the afternoon. Damn where did the day go? I saw Christian talking to John while I finished the rest of my roast beef sandwich. Suddenly, I feel hands on my shoulders.

"Ok! About last night! I shouldn't have done that. I am sorry Chanelle." I gave him a slight smile. I over-reacted. I knew it. I stood and crossed my arms.

"You know Grey, you're not such a bad guy. Maybe we could try something out. You know start over on the right foot." I walk over and lean in to kiss him. It official! I have fallen for the same guys I made fun of in Philadelphia. Suddenly, his office door opens interrupting us from our little daydream. We both look over and I am floored. This is not happening to me. A tall man with glossy black hair and icy blue eyes to kill walks in and I know only one person who could stop a whole room from what they are doing. "No!" I whisper to myself. I roll my eyes and cross my arms. Fuck my life!

"Chanelle? WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING HERE?" Fuck! Why is Gideon here. I thought we settled this shit back on the east coast and where is that blonde bitch Eva?

"GIDEON DON'T START THIS SHIT AGAIN! WHY CAN'T YOU LEAVE ME THE HELL ALONE? WAS THE MESSAGE I SENT NOT CLEAR OR DO I NEED TO CALL HIM AGAIN AND TELL HIM TO FLY OUT HERE TO KICK YOUR ASS AGAIN?" Why is he here in Seattle?! Ground eat me please?!

"WHY ON GOD'S GREEN EARTH ARE YOU WITH THIS PRICK?! DO YOU NOT READ THE TABLOIDS? HE'S NOT WRAPPED TOO TIGHT CHANELLE!" He spits out and I am ready to kick him in the nuts. Gideon is really starting to piss me off. The last time I seen him was when my dad kick his ass to hell and back for what he did to me.

"Why are you in my business Gideon? Why can't you accept the fact that I have moved on with my life? Besides, where is that bitch Eva? I'm pretty sure she could use you right about now unless she is fucking her roommate. What's his name again? Cary Taylor? You seem to be into her when I wanted to talk to you before but you brushed me to the side like everyone else and said that I was just another sleazy whore! Even Magdelene thought how you treated me was beyond fucked up and I hate the bitch as much as I hate Eva!" I go to walk and get in his face but Christian pulls me by my waist to hold me back. Christian tenses up. I think he is angry but he is protecting me from this douche canoe that is Gideon Cross of Cross Industries.

"I think you might want to watch what you say about me Cross. You are the one who approached me with a business deal and the way I see it, I can call it off and you will be left stuck again! Your choice. Choose wisely." Christian says in a deep, dark voice. I look at him and his stance is much taller than earlier. Fuck this! I need to leave. I push Christian's hands off my waist and walk toward the door. "Chanelle! Wait!" Christian yells as I stop in front of Gideon.

"Fuck you Gideon and the hole you crawled out of! Go back to New York and stay there! I don't want to see you in Seattle ever again!" I begin to walk off and he catches my elbow and whispered in my ear. Christian flinched but I put my hand up. I want to hear what this prick has to say.

"I will get you back one way or another Chanelle. You are mine! You will always be mine! Remember who verbally agreed!" He let's me go

"Fuck that verbal agreement! It's over Gideon! It's been over! Let me the fuck go." I stormed out of Christian's office wiping tears away from my face. John is standing in the waiting room waiting. He sees me and fresh tears began to fall.

"Oh goodness Chanelle! I heard screaming! Who was that other executive looking guy." He begins to rub my shoulders and walk me to the elevator. I see Christian run out but the elevator doors close. We get back to the office and I sit down at my desk and begin to drown myself in work. I see John come up and he rubs my back.

"Hey! How about you take the rest of the day off. You worked hard and had a trying afternoon." I nod and grabbed my stuff and gave John a hug.

"Thanks John! Thanks for making sure I was ok. I appreciate it." I pulled out my car keys and my sunglasses and walked out the office. I make my way downstairs and as soon as I walk outside, I see Angus. I give him a polite smile and walk to my car.

"Ms. Jones!" I see Angus running towards me. "Ms. Jones! How are you?" I smile at Angus

"I've seen better days. Seeing your employer wasn't on my agenda for today or the rest of my life for that matter." Angus's face fell. He knows what happened between me and Gideon and he still feels like it's his fault for not stopping it from happening. "Angus look at me. It wasn't your fault. Stop beating yourself up for something that he could've avoided. He got angry at something so trivial. It's ok!" I give him a hug and give him a small wave goodbye. I hop in my car and pull the top down. Gideon walks out of Christian's building and he sees me. I look over and I am instantly angry I pull up some, throw up my middle finger and sped off.

This day has been tiresome. Time to go home and take a long bath.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: I kinda wing this chapter so if it is bad then I am sorry lol**

**Christian's POV**

I watched Chanelle storm out of my office because of Gideon. What the fuck does this asshole want? He takes a seat in front of my desk and begins to smile. I stay standing in front of the window trying to hold in my anger.

"Ok Cross. Since you ran one of my clients out of my office, can I ask you why did you want to see me?" I am trying my hardest to hide the anger out of my voice but I can't. I read the report that Welch sent me. He had a relationship with Chanelle but what did that fucker do to her?

"The reason why I am here Grey is because I wanted to tell you that our proposal to have a satellite office for your company have been approved by the board and we can start employing people within the month. For starters, I would like to take Chanelle off your hands and she can be the head of the office." He smiles and there is an ulterior motive with this guy. I don't like him but he offered me a price for a space in his building that I couldn't refuse.

"Well that's great news. You couldn't call with that information? As far as the request for Ms. Howard-Jones..." I begin to chuckle and rub my chin. "Well for starters, she isn't mine to just simply transfer. She works next door and even if she was to be employed for GEH, I still wouldn't send her to New York to work in your building." I walk up to my desk and slam my hands down. "You did something to Chanelle while you were dating her and if I find out what it is, I am going to own you Cross." Gideon begins to laugh. I have never been this emotionally involved with anyone but Chanelle does something to me!

"Oh come on Grey! You couldn't own my company even if you tried your hardest besides you don't know Chanelle like I do. She is a special one. One that I would like to keep around for a long time. You see Grey, we have similar demons and we exert our anger in the same way except mines doesn't leave permanent scars on such beautiful skin!" He gets up and heads out of my office. I need to warn him.

"CROSS! Leave Chanelle alone!" He turns and begins to smile.

"Someone is angry. Come on Christian! Look at her. She is a piece of work. You couldn't fulfill her needs even if you wanted to. She is a hard woman to please. Don't tell me you're catching feelings for her?!" I continue to scowl at him then he let's out a chuckle. "Oh Grey! She will come back to me. I suggest you stay away from her. She belongs to me. Always have and always will be!" Gideon walks out of my office and I fall back into my seat. Shit! I really hate that guy! Why did I ever agree to work with him. I walk to the window and began to look out into the Seattle daytime rush. I need to see Chanelle tonight! I need to make sure she is safe. I call Taylor in a frenzy.

"Sir?"

"I am canceling my appointment with WSUV. I want you to drive me somewhere else tonight."

"Yes sir!"

I call Andrea to cancel my appointment with the president of WSUV and make my way downstairs. I am worried for Chanelle. Gideon Cross is a dangerous man.

**Chanelle's POV**

I get into my house and throw everything down. I can't believe that fucker showed up in Seattle. I go into the bathroom and start my bath. I pour in some lavender bath oil my dad had gotten for me when he was overseas. It smelled so good and I began to relax immediately. I place my iPod on the dock and play some music. I begin to strip and put my robe on. I make my way into the bathroom and sit in the hot water. I just lay there and soak up the lavender smell. I sink into the bath and let the water relax my face. I sit back up and wipe my eyes. I am staring off in the distance and begin to think. Why did he come to Seattle to do business with Christian? Maybe he does know that I am here! The thought is unsettling and is making me very nauseous.

I am done in the bath. I dry myself off and went into my room to find my black silk teddy and the matching robe. I pull my hair up in a messy bun and I walk out into the living room to turn the t.v on. I go to the fridge to get me some ice cream. I noticed that I still have a bottle of the Cristal in my wine cooler so I pull out the bottle and take a glass from the cabinet and laid out on the couch. I decided to watch The Notebook. This movie always made me cry. I switched it to the fox channel and caught the end of The Simpsons. Suddenly there was a knock on the door. In ways I hope its Christian. I go to the door and open it.

"Hey." Christian says looking casual but irritated. Oh geez! I wonder what happened after I left.

"Hey! Come in." I watched him walk in and I closed the door. "So, what brings you over to my home today Mr. Grey." I say with a smile but Christian doesn't look amused.

"What happened between you and Gideon, Chanelle? Tell me the truth." I am getting a tad angry. "Chanelle? Tell me! NOW!" I jump and scowl at him.

"That is none of your business Grey! You aren't my boyfriend or my Dom..." I stop myself. Fuck! I slipped up. I am hoping he didn't catch that. He is looking at me wide eyed. Damnit! I opened another can of worms that will be impossible to close.

"Chanelle. Did you have a Dom/Sub relationship with Gideon?" I stood there and then my legs became jelly and I fall to the floor holding my hand over my mouth. I wanted to keep this in the past."Chanelle! Tell me!" He is angry and There is no blood in my face as I have gone pale in the face. "ANSWER ME CHANELLE!"

"YES! Well, Sort of! It was more like I was being used for sex. We never dated officially although according to the tabloids we were dating. He just needed to get his rocks off and that's when he would call me." I begin to cry. Christian sank to his knees and held me.

"How did you guys meet?" Christian asked

"I had stayed with a friend for a while because my family was having major issues that I wanted no parts of so, I decided to move to New York. One night, we went to my friend's gym. The gym that Cross just so happen to own. I was running on the treadmill and he came up next to me. He smiled at me and I knew that was my undoing. His eyes were this ice blue and it seemed like he was looking into my soul so, we began to talk. One thing led to another and we ended up having sex after a week or so. Things were going good for a while but I went to the audition for The Voice. He didn't like that too much. We had arguments almost every night that I was in the competition. I made it to semi-finals and got tonsillitis and had to drop out and that's when my friend had went away for 2 weeks and I had the apartment to myself. So, I invited him over so we can talk about my involvement in the competition. When he caught wind that I tried out for The Voice, he flipped off the handle. He yelled and screamed at me. He didn't want me to be in the music business because of his step brother Christopher. I told him that he couldn't tell me what I can and cannot do and that he wasn't anything to me except a fuck toy. Of course, I said this out of anger and then he shoved me hard and I fell to the ground. I fought him back but he was way stronger than I was. He finally got up and left the apartment. Picking up what was left of my feelings I began to cry and moved into my room. I heard a really loud bang on my door and I went to answer it. Gideon had been drinking and wreaked of bourbon. He threw me to the ground again and tried to have sex with me but I kicked him off. He manged to grab me and drag me to my room. I tried to run out while he was closing my bedroom door but he pushed me back and I hit my head on the end of my bed and I almost blacked out." I can see Christian's face go red. "He picked me up and threw me on the bed. I was borderline lifeless and he had his with me. Thank God I get Depo because if I didn't I would be with child right now." I begin to sob lightly. I just opened up a wound that I wanted to keep closed forever. "Christian, This is a bit hard for me to explain. That is the reason why I moved to Seattle. He has haunted every part of me even threatened my family if I didn't come back to him."

"That fucker! Chanelle, I know we haven't know each other for more than a week but I want to protect you from that asshole. We have been at odds since he opened his business. He has been telling the media that he could own my company if he wanted to. He's a cocky prick! Does he know where you live now?" I shake my head. Thank God for that because that would not end will for all parties involved.

"My dad made sure that no one knew my address here. I moved to Seattle to get away from all of the attention and paparazzi." I turned to the t.v and saw that TMZ is on. I look and I see my picture on the screen. "FUCK!" I whispered to myself. Christian looks and sees my picture.

"How do they know you are here?" I shrug my shoulders and now I am back in the spotlight.

_Dax: We have a viewer submitted video from Star Bar in Seattle, Washington of Chanelle Howard-Jones singing cover songs and she looks really good. _

_Harvey: She is an amazing singer and she sounds really good after having her tonsils removed. Wasn't she with that billionaire Gideon Cross? Are they still dating?_

_Dax: To our knowledge no! She dumped him after that fight in her apartment. _

_Harvey: He must be upset about that still but at the end of the day you are the one who hit her. I don't know. Maybe she found someone new and moved with them..._

Fuck my life! My phone rings and I see it is my dad calling. "Oh fuck! I'm in deep shit now" I whisper.

"What's wrong Chanelle?" I show him my phone.

"He is calling to curse me out! This episode of TMZ gets rebroadcasted in Philly at 11:30pm and I know he is watching it." I pick up my phone and try not to cry. "Hey daddy!"

"Don't 'Hey daddy' me? Why were you singing at a bar? Do you want him to come after you again?" My dad is furious.

"Dad, I already ran into him! He barged into a meeting I was having with one of my new bosses. I wasn't expecting to see him here."

"He doesn't know where you live does he?" I feel a tear pop up.

"No daddy! Look, if need be I will get security but right now I want to try and do this on my own..." I can tell my dad didn't like that answer. Christian takes the phone away from me.

"Mr. Howard-Jones? This is Christian Grey of Grey Enterprises Holding inc. How are you this evening?"

"What the fuck are you doing?" I mouthed to Christian. He listens to what my dad has to say. What is he doing?!

"Sir, with your, permission I would like to have my security detail watch over your daughter while she is in Seattle. She is a valuable asset to not only the company she works for but for my company as well. I will make sure nothing happens to her." I am standing there with my arms crossed.

"Christian, I don't know you but if you can guarantee that Chanelle will be safe, then I put my daughter's safety in your hands and if anything happens to her, you will have to answer to me! You got it?" My dad hangs up and Christian smiles.

"Really Grey! You have serious balls for doing that. My dad is a hot head and you manage to not have a screaming match with him. He is really protective of since the incident with Cross spread like wildfire." I still have my arms crossed.

"Look, I should admit something to you..." Oh God this can't be good. "Chanelle, I am highly attracted to you." He says while holding my hands tightly. Why did he make it sound so bad? A lot of people are attracted to me. "Come with me to my apartment. Tonight!" He says. I stand there and back away! I clearly have not know this man for more than 32 hours and he is asking me to come to his place of residence. No! I can't! That's how I feel for Gideon and I refuse to make that same mistake again.

"Christian. I don't think I can do that. I don't you know you that well..." I begin to pace. Maybe I should. I am scared to be by myself right now. People now know that I live in Seattle and people will go through great lengths to see me.

"Chanelle, I promised your dad that I will protect you and I know you are scared to be home alone! Please come with me?" I looked at him and let out a sigh. I should give him the benefit of the doubt but I don't know if I can do it! Fuck it! You only live once right! I roll my eyes and turn to him.

"Fine Grey! You win! Let me get dressed." I go into my room and pull out a long sleeve black shirt and a pair of dark denim jeans. I take my hair out of the bun and let it fall. My hair is still damp but I don't care. I go back in the room with Christian and he is waiting on the couch. I turn off everything and move next to him. "Ok Grey! Let's go!" He smiles and grabs my hand and takes me to the Audi Q7. I see a slightly older gentleman open the driver door and move around to open the passenger door. Christian gave him a slight nod and then helped me into the car. We pull out of my driveway and make our way to God knows where.

"Taylor! Escala please." He says as he dials a number into his phone. Escala sounds so familiar. Where have I heard it before?

"Escala?" I asked Christian.

"My apartment! You will stay with me tonight." I looked at him like he was nuts but I nodded and remained quiet for the rest of the night. Christian is talking to someone on the phone but I drown it out with my thoughts. I am going home with someone who could be my boss.

"Yes! I want you to follow Ms. Howard-Jones to work every day. I don't want anything to happen to her." He ends the call and looks at me. "Chanelle? Are you ok?" I snap out of my thoughts and look at him.

"Yeah! I am fine. Why do you ask?" I say. I know he is worried but I can handle myself for the most part.

"You have been quiet this whole ride. Are you sure you are ok?" He says. I nod and give him a half of a smile. We finally reach Escala and my nerves are all over the place. He walks me into an elevator and inputs a code. We ride up quietly and my mind wanders again. "Chanelle look at me!" I swing my head around and I feel strange. Gray eyes met light brown eyes and I instantly melt. I feel dizzy and my legs feel like jelly and like that I fall on my knees again. "Geez! You need rest." Christian picks me up and carries me into his apartment. I am too stressed and tired to marvel at the copious amount of space this place has. He takes me to a spare room and lays me down. "You can get undressed and crawl under the sheets if you want. If you need me or you get hungry just text me and I will bring you something." I nod and he disappears closing the door behind him. This room is way too big. I begin to take my clothes off and crawl into the bed. The sheets are very comfy and like that I drift off into a deep sleep.

**_I am running away from someone. I trip and begin to push backwards. The person is getting closer to me and I can't tell who this figure is. I trip one more time twisting my ankle. "FUCK THAT HURTS! HELP! SOMEONE HELP ME!" The shadow figure appears and it is Gideon wreaking of bourbon._**

**"****_I want to be inside you Chanelle! Give it to me!" I can't get up. Oh my God! I need help!_**

**"****_GIDEON GET AWAY FROM ME!" I yell but it seems like its turning him on even more! He kneels down and begin to remove my pants. "STOP IT! DON'T TOUCH ME GIDEON!" He hits me across the face and I begin to cry._**

** "****_SHUT UP BITCH AND TAKE IT! YOU KNOW YOU WANT! STOP DENYING IT CHANELLE!" He yells and then smiles. I begin to scream for bloody murder and I feel myself shaking_****.****_ I want this nightmare to be over!_**

"Chanelle! Chanelle! Get up! You are dreaming! Get up!" Christian is yelling. I wake up abruptly gasping for air. I am in a cold sweat and still shaking.

"Christian?" I ask breathlessly. The tears begin to fall and I feel even more exhausted.

"I'm here Chanelle. You were dreaming! Here drink some water." He hands me a cold glass of water and I just about gulp the whole thing down. He begins to wipe the tears away and calm me down. I am shaking like a scared kitten.

"How long have you been in here?" I ask covering myself up knowing that I am in nothing but a bra and a thong.

"Just about 5 minutes. I heard you screaming and came running. I heard you scream Gideon's name." I can hear anger in his voice. I haven't had a nightmare like that in 3 years. I think it's time to see another doctor. I hate seeing shrinks. They talk in circles and find new ways to attack the issue leaving my wounds open and exposed leaving me feeling raw and vulnerable for weeks at a time.

"I'm so sorry Christian. I didn't mean to wake you." I say softly feeling embarrassed. I look at the clock and notice it's only 1:45 in the morning. I have to go to work in a few hours. These nightmares are becoming a real pain in the ass.

"It's fine! Do you want me to stay here with you?" He asked me and I was nervous because Gideon had these nightmares where he would unconsciously have sex with me and it would hurt a lot so I was a bit apprehensive at first but I could use the comfort.

"If you don't mind. I would really appreciate it." He climbs in behind me and holds me. I stiffen up again and he let go. "I would feel more comfortable if you didn't do that."

"Ok. I am sorry." He says and he puts 2 pillows in between us. I feel comfortable and drift off into a peaceful sleep. The alarm goes off and I need to get back home and change. I quickly hop in the shower, dry off and put on the clothes from yesterday. I make my way down the hall and I am graced by this large room. "Wow!" I whisper to myself.

"Good Morning Chanelle!" Christian is dressed and eating. He is in this silver fitted suit. He looks absolutely appetizing. I hold my stomach because I am super hungry. "I didn't know what you liked so I had Ms. Jones here make you some blueberry pancakes and eggs. I smile and run to the bar stool to eat. I dig into the blueberry pancakes and I am instantly lost in the delicious pancakes.

"These are so freaking good! Thank you so much!" Ms. Jones is an older woman with long blonde hair and the warmest smile.

"No problem Ms. Howard-Jones!" She says

"Please call me Chanelle!" I say with a smile back. "Christian. I need to go home and change seeing as though I need to go to work." He smiles and shakes his head. "What's so funny?"

"Did you bother to check the chair in the room I took your keys and had Taylor run to your house and grab everything you needed for today." I am red in the face. I run back to the room and noticed the bag was there. I took a peek in and saw that Taylor picked out my black 3 piece skirt suit with my matching Giuseppe Zanotti chunky heels and a matching bra, panty and garter set. Also in the bag was my hair products, make up and jewelery plus my favorite perfume. I get ready for work and within 20 minutes I am ready to go. I grab my purse and my clothes and head out to the large front looks up and he beings to eye me up and down. "My oh my don't you look stunning. It would be my honor to give you a ride to work and I will give you a ride home later if you like." He says giving me a smile. I'm thinking I am going to need that ride home because I don't have my car.

"I would be happy if you could seeing as though my car is back at my house." I say with a smile. He smiles back. You know he really isn't a bad guy. The room clears and it is only me and him sitting at the breakfast bar. "So what was Gideon talking about saying that you weren't wrapped to tight?" He stills and his face goes from carefree to worried.

"Nothing. He is just begin an asshole. Shall we leave for work?" He gets up and runs to the front door. I follow him grabbing my purse and then I stand in front of the door. I narrow my eyes and he does the same thing. "What are you doing Chanelle?"

"We are not going anywhere until you tell me. If i'm going to entrust you with my safety, you could at least tell me the truth! Spill it Grey!" He looks at me as if he is angry.

"Chanelle! We need to leave." He says avoiding the situation. I am frustrated.

"Fine!" I open the door and storm out. I hit the button to call the elevator.

"Where are you going?" Is that suppose to be a serious question.

"I am going to work without you Grey! If I can't trust you to tell me anything, how can I trust you with my safety?" I shake my head and walk into the elevator. I make my way down to the first floor and hail a cab.

I am at my desk and I can't stop thinking about Christian. I need to dive myself into work. My phone rings and I pray to God it's not Christian but it's just John calling.

"Hey John!"

"Hey Chanelle. Could you possibly run and get me some lunch from the deli down the street?" I didn't want to since that was Christian's favorite place but this only day 2 of me being at this job so objections were a no no!

"Yeah sure. What would you like?" I grabbed a note pad and began to write what he wanted. I figured I was a little hungry and decided to get me a roast beef sandwich.

"Thanks Chanelle! You are a life saver!" I smiled on the phone and hung up. I grabbed my purse and ran to the elevator. It's a bright sunny day in Seattle. I look in my purse and see that I have my aviator shades in there.

"Score!" I whisper to myself. I walk outside and I see Angus! Fuck Gideon is still here! Why can't he go back to the east coast where he belongs? I grab my phone and call Christian.

"What?!" He screams in the phone. I jump and look at my phone like I was hearing things. "Chanelle! I did that to distract Gideon. What's wrong?" My worst fears spring to life! Could this get any worse.

"Why in the hell is Gideon still here?" I say

"I don't know Chanelle. I want him to go away as much as you do. He is in my office right now!" I sigh

"Good! Keep him up there! I am going to lunch and I don't want him seeing me." Christian sighs

"Can we speak later? I know I haven't been the best person but..." I interrupt him mid sentence.

"Grey, you are so damn frustrating and I really don't want to speak to you but I will give you benefit of the doubt. I'll be at your office at 4." I say with a smile.

"Great. See you then Chanelle." I smile and hit the end call button. I look in my purse and see that I have my iPod touch too. "Score again!" I whisper to myself. I put in my headphones in hopes that I can make a quick dash down the street. I walk out and the sun is warming my face. I remember having a picnic with my dad and him telling me that he loved the way my eyes sparkle in the sunlight. I smile at the thought as I enter the deli. I ordered both sandwiches and got us bottles of water. My phone rings and it is a 212 number. Fuck! I hope it isn't Gideon.

"Howard-Jones speaking." I say with a hint of irritation.

"Chanelle. Christopher Vidal. How are you?" Fuck! Could my day get any worse?

"First, your step brother harasses me now you call to harass me! I don't want shit to do with you boys! Why are you calling me Chris?" I can hear a small chuckle in the background.

"Whoa tiger! Calm down. I was just checking in on you. I haven't spoken to you since '09 and you came across my mind. You are the talk around the music industry." He says. I know he is trying to get me to work with him and I absolutely, flat out refuse! He is a douche just like his step brother. "Saw your video on TMZ and you sound better after the surgery. Come on Chanelle. Give it a chance."

"Christopher! Even if you were the last record label on earth, I still wouldn't work with you. I am not coming back to New York. EVER! I wish you and your blockheaded brother would realize this. Now, if you'd excuse I have work to be doing." I hang up and head back to office. I see Gideon standing in front of Grey House and I immediately freeze. When I see him turn his back, I dashed into the building. Great! I went unnoticed. I go back to the office with John's lunch and he smiles.

"Chanelle! You are such a life saver! Thank you so much." I smile and nod. I walk back to my cubicle and begin to dive into my work. I looked at the clock and noticed it was almost 4. Shit! Where did the day go? I walk to John's office but he is on the phone. Our eyes locked and he waved me in.

"No dear! I will not forget to go to the market. I am going to go. Don't worry! Just text me a list of things to get." Awww how cute! He is talking to his significant other. I begin to smile. "I love you too Jamie! Bye!" He hangs up and he smiles at me. "Hey Chanelle. What's up?"

"I was wondering if I could leave at 4 today?" Wincing back a bit I was afraid he would say no. "I can make up the two hours tomorrow. I don't mind staying late." he smiled.

"Yeah sure! I'll need you to work late tomorrow since I have a late meeting with the board." I nodded and began to walk through his door. "Oh! Chanelle!" I turn around.

"Yeah John?"

"Can I have your autograph. I was a huge fan of The Voice." I smiled and took a pen off his desk and signed a magazine article that had me in it. I really do miss those days but I can have a somewhat normal life now...at least I hope I can.

"See ya John!" I turn and walk out of his office. I am almost scared to know what Christian wants to talk about. I grab my purse and my suit jacket, let down my hair and put on my aviators as I head down to the elevator.

I'm lost in my thoughts as the elevator makes its way downstairs. I start to walk off and behold I see the king of the douches! I roll my eyes and begin to walk away. He grabs my elbow and pulls me back.

"Chanelle! What a lovely surprise and may I say that you look absolutely stunning." Gideon has this look about him that is sexy and dangerous but those days are over. I raise an eyebrow and snatch my arm away from him.

"Mr. Cross! May I indeed remind you that you are to NEVER put your hands on me. Do I need to call my father again? You know he has a very bad temper when it comes to someone hurting his baby girl." I say with a sly smile.

"Oh Chanelle! You are so cute when you are serious. Tell you what. How about I take you to dinner tomorrow night?" He says but I know he wants to try to get me to give in to his charm and good looks.

"That won't be needed Mr. Cross. I suggest you take my words seriously and stay the hell away from me." I smile and begin to walk away from him.

"This isn't over Chanelle. Not by a long shot." He yells and I give him a small wave. I walk next door and let security know that I am here to see Christian. I make my way up to the last floor. My thoughts are all over the place. I walk off the elevator and Andrea is signaling for me to go right in. I see he is on the phone with someone.

"Yeah! I don't want to work with that fucker. He tried to hurt a friend of mine." Christian looked up and held up his finger signaling one minute. I put my purse on the table and hop up to sit. "I have to attend to an important matter." He hangs up. "Well! It looks like someone is eager and gorgeous. You know you should wear your hair down often."

"Well I would like to know what you are hiding from me Mr. Grey." His face falls and he runs his hands through his hair. There is something weighing heavy on his mind. I wish he would just tell me. I hate waiting for information.

"Chanelle I..." We were interrupted by a knock on the door. It was his assistant and she didn't look well.

"Mr. Grey. May I leave early? I really don't feel well." She looks absolutely pale and she is shaking. My heart is breaking. She is a beautiful girl and to see her like this is making me want to cry.

"Yes Andrea! You look like death. Please go home and get some rest! Don't come back until you feel better." Christian says. He really looks after his employees. That really is sweet. I begin to smile as she walked out of the door. "Now back to you Chanelle. We need to talk about this at my apartment." He smiles. He makes me melt every time.

"Well, shall we go then?" I say and like that we leave. I can't help but to wonder what does he need to tell me.

We arrive back at Escala and I am rubbing my hair. I need to wash it again. I look up and I see Christian's face. He looks so upset. Pained about something. What happened to him? He is a billionaire playboy! There shouldn't be anything wrong with him. We walk into the foyer and before long we are standing in the massiveness that is his living room.

"Ok Christian. Spill it!" I say while crossing my arms and tapping my foot. He runs into his office to grab something and then comes back out and places it in front of me.

"Before I do anything, I need you to sign this." I look at the paper and roll my eyes. It's a NDA! I've signed these before. Last one I signed was for The Voice. I wasn't allowed to tweet during the competition until it aired live.

"Ummm...ok!" I grabbed one of my pens and signed on the faithfully dotted line. He smirks and grabs my hand and pulls me into the back of his apartment. He looks at me. Brown meets gray and we are locked there. "So what is this?" I ask out of curiosity. He let out a sigh and ran his fingers through his hair.

"What I am going to show, you cannot tell a soul about. Not even your friends." He puts his hands on my shoulders and looks at me deeply again.

"I promise. Remember, I signed the NDA." I zipper my mouth and threw up my scouts honor sign. He smiled and unlocked the door. I can't see at first but Christian flips a switch and the lights come on. Once they are fully on, I am floored. I sink to my knees with my mouth covered. This can't be true. Tell me this isn't true! "You're a...You're a..." I am feel myself cry because I know old scars are ripping themselves open.


	5. Chapter 5

"Yes Chanelle. I am." He says as he moves toward me. I push back on the ground as I am in shock. I get up, take off my heels and began to run. "CHANELLE! WAIT!" I take the stairs because I didn't want to wait for the elevator. I finally make it down to the first level and I hail a cab. I wanted to go home. I wanted to be far away from him.

I finally made it home and I couldn't have been any happier. I open my door and walk in. I was so defeated that I just sat on the couch. I couldn't move into my room. I just sat there looking at the wall for what it seemed like it was hours! My phone rings and it's him. I don't want to speak to him. I want nothing to do with him. I finally peel myself off of my couch and move into my room. I took my clothes of and walked into the bathroom. I turned on the shower and got in. I sank to the floor of the shower and begin to cry. Why is this happening to me! I was having such a good time in Seattle and now I want to move back home to Philadelphia. I can't take the amount of drama that is happening. Gideon showing up, my face being plastered to the TV, Chris calling me and now finding out about the true Christian Grey. I can't deal with this too much more. I dry myself off and make my way to the cabinet in the kitchen. I pulled out a bottle of Jack Daniels and a small glass. I need to erase today out of my mind. I pour some into the glass and downed it within a second. I grabbed the bottle and glass and make my way into my living room. I lit a few candles and just sat there with my JD and my thoughts. About 7 shots in and I was drunk so, I decided to call Christian.

"Chanelle?"

"Don't Chanelle -burp- me! You are so...so...weird!" I begin to giggle.

"Chanelle are you drunk?" He sounds angry but it's making me laugh more.

"What's it to you pal?! You...you don't care about me. I think I am going to call Gideon now. Bye!"

"CHANELLE! WAIT!" I hang up and drunk dial Gideon.

"So you finally came to your senses. Where are you?" He ask.

"That...that's for me to know and you never to find out! I hate you Gideon!" I pour another glass and down it in a second. "You hurt me ba...badly!" I spit out.

"Are you drunk Chanelle? Where are you? I am coming for you! Now!" He says but I start to laugh.

"No! You don't know where I live silly!" I pour another glass at this point I am losing all type of motor skill. There was a knock at my door. "I gotta go! There is someone at my door. Gideon?"

"Yeah?"

"Go fuck yourself! Tell that bitch Eva to burn in hell!" I hang up and the knock got louder. "HOLD YOUR FUCKING HORSES!" I walk to the door and I see Christian standing there. I flip him off and walk back to my bottle. He follows me in and shuts the door.

"Chanelle! How long have you been drinking?" He ask with concern. I grab the bottle to pour another drink but he snatches it from me. "Answer me!"

"What's it to you?! What are you going to do? Flog me to death?" I stop and go wide eyed. Christian winced back and stood taller than normal. "I didn't mean it Christian." He pushes me up against the wall, holding my wrists together. "Christian!" He goes into to kiss me. I can't help but to try and lean into it. His lips are soft. I begin to moan a little. He backs away and looks at me.

"You are being very stupid Chanelle. I am taking you back to my apartment." He picks me up and walks me out of my house.

"CHRISTIAN! PUT ME DOWN! I HAVE NO CLOTHES ON!" I kick and scream but he isn't listening. I hear a car door open and i'm thrown into the back of the car. My head is spinning. Oh God please don't let me throw up here. I fade in and out of consciousness. Finally I go black. Fuck!

I wake up to a glass of orange juice and aspirin. Fuck! I feel like shit! I sit up and I noticed that I am back in the same room I was in the other night. I cover my mouth in realization that I am in Christian's apartment. How the hell did I end up here? I took the aspirin and drank the orange juice. I go searching in the drawers for anything. I am naked underneath my robe. I looked on the chair where Taylor left my work clothes and there was a bag of something. I look and I see my black tank top and my temple sweats plus my bra and panties. I threw those on really quick and walked into the massive room. I see Ms. Jones but I don't see Christian.

"Hello Chanelle! Are you hungry?" I am starving but I need to find Christian. I don't remember a damn thing from last night.

"Hey Ms. Jones. Where is Christian?" She smiled and pointed to another door with her chin. "Is it safe to go in?" She nods and smiles. "Can I get some blueberry pancakes and bacon?" She smiles

"Of course! It will be ready in a few minutes." I smile and knock on the door. I gently turn the knob and open the door. He is on the phone with someone.

"Well, what is it that needs to be done?" He says. He sounds all business like but I guess that's how you have to sound when you run a multi-billion dollar company.

"I will have Ros go over it and get back to you." Our eyes meet and he shifts in his chair. "Look I have to go. We will speak more later this week." He hangs up and stands up. Embarrassed, I give him a small wave and began to walk out. "Wait Chanelle!" He says and I am frozen in my spot facing the door. He walks up and stands inches away from my back. "Turn around." I shake my head and try to hold back my tears. "Please Chanelle. Please turn around." I slowly turn around but my head stays lowered. "Look at me." I do and the tears begin to flow.

"Christian...I...I don't know what happened for me to end up here but I am so sorry!" He hugs me and wipes my tears away.

"Well, you got drunk, called me then called that prick Cross, I came over, you flipped me off said something that pissed me off, I kissed you and brought you here!" I can't believe I called Gideon! Fuck! "I called John and told him that you wouldn't be coming in today because you fell ill. I'm not going to work today either! Besides, I think you deserve an explanation about my room." I completely forgot about that room. I feel a blush creep up on my face and a trace of a smile. I begin to giggle a little. "What's so funny?" I look at him and shake my head.

"You! You have a sex room! I always thought they were a myth." A small smile crept up on his lips.

"Well, they aren't a myth dear. I've had it for a while!" I walk out to the kitchen and I see my pancakes sitting on the breakfast bar. I jump and walk to the stool and start to dig in. These pancakes are freaking delicious. After I virtually clean my plate, I walk back to the room to grab my phone. I walk back to the kitchen and talk to Christian.

"So how long have you owned your business?" Asking the general ice breaker questions since we completely bypassed that stage.

"For awhile. I am shocked though. You've never heard of me before?" He asked and I shook my head.

"I wasn't into the whole 'keeping tabs on people I would never meet' thing. My friends heard of you and compared you to Gideon. Most of them chose you because you were richer than him. Yes! Most of my friends are gold diggers." I laugh and he began to laugh too.

"Well, I am glad they chose me because of my money. What about you? How did you get into singing?"

"I was young. Singing in the church choir. Then, I did school talent shows. I never really did any major singing until I auditioned for The Voice. I mainly was an instrumental major." He smiled and nodded. My phone began to ring and I looked at the caller ID. It was Gideon calling me. I see Christian face fall and he instantaneously became angry.

"What do you want Gideon?" I spit out

"Where the fuck are you Chanelle?" He says through gritted teeth

"That's none of your fucking business Cross. Last time I checked, your girlfriend's name was Eva Tramell not Chanelle Howard-Jones. Why do you need to keep tabs on me? Are you finally realizing what you did to me was stupid?" I say with a hint of sarcasm.

"Chanelle I don't have time for your smart ass mouth! Where are you?" I roll my eyes and sighed.

"I'm home! There are you happy?" He let's out a small chuckle. "What the fuck is so funny?"

"It's funny that you mention that you are home because if you were home, we wouldn't need to be talking on our phones now would we?" He says and hangs up. HE'S AT MY HOUSE?! HOW THE FUCK DOES HE KNOW WHERE I LIVE? Fuck! I am screwed! My dad is going to kill me.

"Chanelle! What happened?" Christian asked

"It's Gideon! He is at my house!"


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Again I winged this! lol**

"What the fuck do you mean he is at your house? I thought he didn't know where you lived." Christian said. I am confused I never told anyone where I lived. The only person that knows exactly where I live is my dad and the rest of my family.

"Christian I need to get back to my house! I need to make sure everything is in one piece." I said frantically pacing back and forth. Christian gets up and holds me still. I can feel the tears welling up in my eyes. I have never been this bad before but then again neither has Gideon.

"I am sending Taylor and Sawyer to survey the damage. You aren't going anywhere!" Christian said while holding my hands.

"Christian you don't understand. I need to get back to my house! I need to make sure my sanctuary is safe!" I look into Christian's eyes and he looked back. He let out a sigh of defeat and conceded.

"Fine! We'll go but no heroics. I told your dad I will keep you safe and I tend to fully keep that promise." I nodded and we headed down to the garage. Taylor and Sawyer already left. Christian told me to wait by the elevator. I hear a sexy engine roar to life. I look both ways to see where it was coming from. Seconds later I see a sleek, black Audi R8 Spyder pull in front of me. I crossed my arms and shook my head. I made my way to the passenger door and got in. We pulled out of the garage fast and began to head to my house.

"You and Audi's. Explain." I said with a smile. He smiled and snickered a bit. The way he is handling this car is completely sexy. I began to think of the night that Gideon drove me back to my apartment after I came back from seeing my family. I shook my head to dismiss the memory.

"Well, they are the safest car in the world and I care about my safety and my employees safety. You and BMW's. Explain." He says with a smile. I rolled my eyes and I heard him take a sharp breath. "Don't do that Chanelle."

"Well, BMW's are the best in German engineering so of course I would take a BMW over any American made car and don't do what?" I say. We stop at a light and he puts his hands on my knee. I feel the touch vibrating through me and it's making me shift in my chair.

"Roll your eyes and I can see that I have some type of effect on you Ms. Howard-Jones." I smile at him and stick my tongue out.

"1) My mother is Mrs. Howard-Jones. If you are going to call me by my last name Ms. Howard would suffice. 2) I can't help the fact that you are drop dead gorgeous Mr. Grey. You have that touch that could bring any woman to their knees." I said with a smile. He looked over and raised his eyebrows.

"You have no idea Ms. Howard." He says with a smile. We pull up to my house and my worst fears are suddenly brought to light. My light and airy demeanor now gone and replaced with rage. My house is destroyed. Windows broken, doors smashed in. Fuck! How am I going to explain this to my dad? I honestly don't want to tell him a lie. I walk into my house and immediately ran to my sanctuary. There isn't any sign of forced entry. I open the door and I fall to my knees and begin to cry. My room of peace and tranquility is ruined. My keyboard is broken and my guitar strings have been cut. Speakers are smashed in and my mic and mic stand broken.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" I cried out as I let out a full on sob. Christian runs in and he sees the damage done to the my instruments. I am shaking from anger and sadness but mainly anger. Is he really that fucking childish that he would sit there and destroy my house because I don't want to be with him anymore. I get up and Christian helps me up. "I want him dead!" I said with gritted teeth. Christian holds me and I begin to cry into his shoulders.

"Calm down Chanelle. You will get through this." He walked me out of the room and into my room. It looks like he didn't come in here. "Pack up whatever you need to make yourself comfortable at my apartment. I will give you a few minutes." He walks out and gently closes my door. I pull out my 2 large suitcases and began to pack. I can't believe he is doing this because I am talking to Christian. I can't believe he is being this childish. I put my entire closet into one suitcase and my shoes, bras and panties into another suitcase. I move my stuff into the living room where I find Christian on the phone. He hangs up and walks toward me. "Taylor will take you back to my apartment. I will try to figure out what to do about Gideon!" I nod and walked my luggage out to the front.

"Ms. Howard I can take your luggage." I hand him my bags and I turn around. I loved this home and it's going to be a bitch to fix it. I turn to Christian.

"Christian...Thank you." I say and I turn away.

"No problem." He says as I walk away. I hop in the back of the Q7 and we pull away from my house. I am looking out of the window and I can't believe this is happening. Why do bad things happen to good people? I look up and noticed that we were in front of Escala. How did we get here so fast?

"Ms. Howard, you can go up. I will bring your luggage up soon." Taylor says. I nod and walk toward the elevator. I look and see a key pad to get into the penthouse.

"Thanks Christian for not giving me that bit of information." I whisper to myself. I pull out my cell to see there is message from Christian.

_*972018 is the code to get in to my apartment.*_

I put the code in and the elevator car jerks upward. I walk into the foyer and I noticed the art work that lined the hall. I look up and see his driver standing there, waiting.

"I assume you know where your stuff is Ms. Howard. Mr. Grey has had the room set up to make you feel comfortable." I stared at Taylor for a minute and I nodded. He opens the door and I walk in. I finally get to mesmerize over the abundant amount of space he has. This is way too large for one person to live in. I walk up to the room and noticed the closet was full with my clothes and some additional pieces that I didn't recognize. I walk up and I noticed dresses that I didn't buy. They look brand new since they still had tags on them. I pick up the silver and black halter dress and hugged it to me then I looked at the price tag.

"$3,290?! I definitely didn't buy this!" I whisper to myself. I looked at the dress up and down then put it back on the rack.

"That's because I bought it." I nearly jump to the ceiling when I heard his voice. I look over and see Christian standing in the doorway. I begin to relax.

"Jesus Christian. You scared the daylights out of me. How long have you been standing there?" I say as I brush the loose bits of my hair behind my ear.

"I just walked up and I saw you gawking at the dress. I thought you would look absolutely stunning in that dress. I take it that you are making yourself at home?" He said while looking at me with lustful eyes. I begin to blush and turn my head away. I walk toward the bathroom but he catches my elbow. He turns me around and pushes my against the wall and pins me with his hips.

"Christian...I..." He stops me from talking by moving his lips over mine. This kiss felt different from the ones that I have ever had. There was something about this kiss that was making me hot. Making me forget all of my worries and pain. I leaned into it and our tongues fought. He broke the kiss and left the room. I fell to the floor touching my lips and began to laugh like a school girl. I sat there and began to think. What is he doing to me? I have never felt like this even when I was with Gideon, he didn't make me feel like this. Comparing the icy cold blue of Gideon's eyes and the smoldering gray of Christian's

Time passed so fast that I completely loss track of it. I rub my stomach and noticed I was a bit hungry. I went into the bathroom and wiped down. I noticed all of my bathroom items were in here. I didn't tell Christian about anything that I used. "How does he..." then thought came back that he knew exactly where I lived. I smiled and shook my head. I threw on my sweats and a oversized sweat shirt and headed into the living room. As I got closer, I can smell dinner being made. It smells so good. I look up and I see Ms. Jones doing her thing in the kitchen. Our eyes locked and she gave me this warm smile and I returned one back.

"Hello Ms. Jones! Is Christian still home?" I asked. I can't believe I sound like this.

"He ran out for a few minutes. He will be back. Dinner will be ready in a few minutes. Please make yourself at home." She said. I looked over and noticed he had a balcony. I open the door that led out to the balcony and made a phone call to my dad. I had to tell him one way or another. The phone went straight to voicemail.

"Hey dad!" I let out a sigh. Here goes nothing. "I'm just calling to let you know that my house got broken into last night. Everything in the house except my room was virtually destroyed including the keyboard you got me. I am waiting for the insurance company to call me back and give me an estimate. I am fine though. I was out of the house when this happened. I..." I begin to tear up because if I told him that it was Gideon then he will blame Christian for not protecting me but I have to let him know. "Dad! It was Gideon who broke into my house. Don't blame Christian! I was with him when this happened. Call me back as soon as you get this." I hang up and slide down the rail of the balcony and began to cry. I look to my left and I see the flickering lights of the Seattle skyline. I hear the door to the balcony open.

"Chanelle it's kind of cold to be sitting out here. Dinner is ready too." I look over and I see Christian standing on the door frame. I sniff and wipe my face. "Are you okay?"

"No Christian. I am not okay! The fact that Gideon is back to haunt me in ways that I never thought possible is nerve wrecking. I had to make the hardest phone call of my life tonight and who knows what my dad will do or say when he gets the message." I feel the tears come back up. "I kind of want to just go to sleep. I'm not hungry anymore." Christian narrows his eyes and picks me up.

"He will pay for what he did Chanelle and you will eat. I know you haven't eaten since breakfast this morning. Please eat." I look at him with a disgusted look but he is right. I haven't eaten a thing since this morning. He helps me up and rubs my arms. I began to stiffen but I immediately relaxed. I know he wouldn't hurt me but I just can't take that risk again. We sit at the breakfast bar and Ms. Jones puts two plates in front of us.

"I hope you like Chicken Marsala." She says with a smile.

"OH MY GOODNESS! I HAVEN'T HAD THIS IN YEARS!" I say with excitement. Christian begins to laugh as he cuts into the chicken. I begin to dig in and the juiciness of the chicken is making me do a happy wiggle on the bar stool. Christian begins to laugh. "Something funny Grey?" I shoot him a cold glare and he stops his snickering.

"No! Not at all Ms. Howard. I see you are enjoying your dinner." He begins to snicker again. I shoot him another cold glare and he stops snickering.

"I am! I can't help that this taste absolutely amazing." I say with a smile on my face. After dinner is done, Christian walks into his study and I make my way to my room to read. I open the door and what I find sitting on my bed almost had me in a full sob. There was a keyboard with a big fuchsia bow on top. I run to my temporary bed and sit cross legged with the keyboard in my lap. I look over and see an envelope. I pick it up and open it. There was a letter and pictures inside.

_Chanelle,_

_I told you that I would handle it._

_Christian_

I look at the pictures. There are pictures of my house. Looking like nothing has happened. The last picture had me in tears. My sanctuary looks brand new and my buddha statue is sitting on my window seal. I run to the door to see Christian standing there with a bouquet of calla lilies.

"I told you that I would handle it. Trust me Chanelle, I know you are apprehensive about everything thanks to that fucker Cross but I made a promise to your dad to protect you. In the same token, I am really highly attracted to you but I don't know if I could give you what you need. I have never been in a relationship outside of the..." We move to the floor of the bedroom sitting next to each other. I pulled my knees up to my chest.

"Dom/Sub relationship. I know. I kind of picked that up. Listen..." I let out a sigh. "I'm very attracted to you but I don't know if I can do this again. Gideon fucked me up mentally and physically. I...I..." Christian put his hand on my back and I stiffen again. He leaves it there and I begin to hold my breath. His touch hurts even though I know he means well. I removes his hand and he looked at me.

"You suffer with the same thing I do." he says. I look at him crossed. What does he mean by that?

"I don't understand. What do you mean?" I say. He takes my hand and he tries to have me touch his chest but he just couldn't do it. He moves my hand back and begins to breath quickly like he was holding his breath. "You don't like to be touched!" I said with shock. I wonder what happen with him.

"It's a hard limit for me. I would like to be touched but it hurts too much." His eyes fell. Maybe I could tell him how I learned to cope with it.

"It took me a while to get used to my family touching me after the incident with Gideon. You have to take it day by day. Have someone lightly touch the area and hold it there for 30 seconds. That's what I did and it slowly started working. When a stranger touches me, I stiffen up if there is skin to skin contact because I don't know them." Christian looks confused.

"You were fully clothed when I went to grab your waist."

"My back was exposed. When I felt your forearm brush against my lower back that's when I stiffened up. Try it!" He looked a bit apprehensive but he grabbed my hand. "Ok we will try 10 seconds instead of 30 seconds." He nodded and put my hand on his chest. He got wide eyed and began to breath quickly. "1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10" I yanked my hand back and he relaxed some.

I get up and give him a kiss. He pulls me back down and I straddle him. I push back up and stand up. He gets up with me and bumps me a little. I give him a kiss on the cheek and back away.

"I take it that is my sign to leave and that you are going to bed. Goodnight Chanelle." I smile and fall back on the bed."

"Goodnight Christian." I move the keyboard into the corner and slid into the bed and fell asleep.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: This is isn't Bella. This is her friend Jessie. Bella has been stuck at work and school and she apologizes to everyone for not keeping up with posting. She has also said that she is trying her best to keep up with the demand but the theater she works at just released Twilight and it's been hella busy. She is so sorry. So I am trying to fill in for her at the moment.**

**Thanks for understanding :)**

I smile and fall back on the bed."

"Goodnight Christian." I move the keyboard into the corner and slid into the bed and fell asleep. I begin to toss and turn. I sit up and begin to look around. I moved my eyes over to the clock and it's only two in the morning. I pull my hair up into a ponytail and make my to my keyboard. I grab my headphones and put to the side. I began to softly play the Prelude in E minor by Chopin. I begin to tear up some because it is a very sad prelude. I get into and a single tear drops from my eye. I look out the corner of my eye and see a shadow make its way toward me.

**Christian's POV**

"I take it you know a little classical too huh?" I said. She smiles and plug her headsets in. She moves the keyboard over and scooted to the middle of the bed. I sit down and crossed my legs. "You know I prefer you to have your hair down but you look adorable with it up in a ponytail." She lets out a little giggle and then a sigh.

"I'm sorry I woke you again! I'm a bad house guest." I placed my hand on her leg and she jumped a little but relaxed right away. I take my hand away and look down. I hate the fact that she is like this. I want to take her pain away but I can't knowing that I have my own demons to deal with. "I am sorry that I jumped. Still getting used to you I guess." She shrugs and looks away. I begin to let my mind wander. When we kissed, why didn't she jump then? Is it because it made her feel comfortable?

"No it's ok. Do you want me to stay in here or will you be ok?" I ask her. I want to try and hold her again. She looks around the room and then our eyes meet up again. She begins to smile and it warms my heart. What is she doing to me?

"Yeah! I would like that." She says and she moves to lay on her side facing away from me. I put 2 pillows in front of me and lay down but then she moves the pillow puts one on top of the pillow she already has and throws the other one on the floor. She moves back and snuggles next to me. I put my arm around her waist and closed my eyes.

"Goodnight Chanelle." I say as I plant a soft kiss on her forehead. I can hear her smile and let out a little sigh.

"Goodnight Christian. Thanks for everything." She says breathlessly and like that we are in a peaceful sleep. I am abruptly woken up by thrashing in the bed. I look over and go wide eyed. Shit! She is having another nightmare. I turn on the light hoping it would bring her out of the nightmare.

"_No! Gideon get off of me! Help! Someone please help me! HELP!"_ I jump up and I begin to shake her.

"Chanelle get up!" I yell and she falls back on the bed and her eyes fly open. She sits up and gasp for air. I begin to rub her back. "Are you ok Chanelle?" I am concerned for her. Maybe I should let her see Dr. Flynn.

"Christian? Oh God! I had another nightmare didn't I?" She says softly. She has lost all color in her face. I nod and she gets up and gets dressed. Where the hell does she think she is going this late at night?

"Where are you going Chanelle? It's almost three in the morning?" I say with anger.

"I can't stay here. I feel like I will harm you in some way." She runs to the closet and pulls out her suitcase. I run to her and pick her up.

"You aren't going anywhere Chanelle. I will go back to my room to give you space." I walk out and close the door and made my way to my room. I lay in the bed and I begin to think again. I need to know what he did to her? I know there is more to the story and I will find out.

Chanelle's POV

The next morning I woke up and I was by myself. I looked over and I noticed it was 6:14 am. Time to get ready for work. I turned the water on in the shower and then began to lay out my clothes, make up and jewelery. After about 20 mins, I am showered, dressed and ready for the day. I decided on my black Coach bag to match my outfit and to actually wear my hair down with a bang to spice things up. I walk out and I see Christian sitting at the breakfast bar wearing yet another tailored black suit. He looks scrumptious. I walk up and put my bag on the breakfast bar. "Good morning Mr. Grey. You are looking mighty fine this morning." I say with a smile and he looks up at me and smiles back.

"Good morning Ms. Howard and I could say the same about you. I see you took my advice about wearing your hair down and you even added a bang. You are looking extremely lovely. Would you like breakfast?" He asked.

"Yes. I will take a banana, some greek vanilla yogurt and granola to go. I need to get back to work." I say. I looked down and noticed my keys sitting next to Christian. "Please tell me my car is in the garage." Christian smiled and handed me my keys. I give him a kiss on the cheek and head out the door. I have never felt so good about myself. Even after everything happening with Gideon, I am actually pretty happy. I made it down to the garage and went searching for my car. I hit the unlock button and there it sits in all of it red glory. I hope in and sped out of the garage. I am driving and my phone rings. I look at the caller ID and noticed it was a 212 number. A 212 number I recognized. I rolled my eyes and pursed my lips. I hit the answer button.

"You have 2 minutes to tell me why you are calling me, when do you expect to pay me back for all of the damages done to my house and when will leave me the fuck alone. I suggest you use your time wisely Mr. Cross. Time starts now." He begins to chuckle.

"Well good morning to you Chanelle. To answer all of you questions: because I really miss you, I was in a dark place and I am bringing the money over to your office and never. Chanelle, you have no idea what you are getting yourself into with Grey. He is a basket case and I am just looking out for your safety. Please reconsider it. If you date someone else I will leave you alone but I can't have you dating Christian." I roll my eyes again and scoff.

"Cross, I don't need you fighting my battles for me. I am a grown woman. I can look out for myself. I live life by taking risks. I am sorry. I can't do this with you. You were a risk and turned out to be the biggest regret of my life. Do you know that you left me so broken and battered that I didn't let anyone touch me? Get a clue Cross! You and me will NEVER happen again! How would Eva feel if she found out you went back to pursuing me? She has trust issues already." I pull up in front of my building and I park my car. "I am at work now. Can you try your hardest to not pester me or Christian? As a matter of fact do us both a favor and go back to New York. I'm sure your empire misses you." I hang up and gather all of my things out of the car.

I walk into the office and there are a lot of cards and flowers on my desk from all of my coworkers. I smile and look up and everyone is standing around my cubicle.

"You guys are too much. Thank you so much." I smile.

"It's the least we could do." John said. "I actually have some news for you Chanelle. Come to my office." I walk behind John to his office. We walk in and I close the door and take a seat in front of John's desk.

"Ok! So what the news?" I say while smiling. John smiles at me and holds my hands.

"Well, we have gained a new partner. I think you may know him. Thanks to you and your quick thinking and talking, Christian is a partner for the agency." I begin to clap silently but I wonder why he chose to do it. "Also, the partners agreed that even though you have been here less than a week, they are making you a Junior Manager for the Home Fashion and Design department." I am sitting there speechless. I don't think I can handle this. "It's a new department that they just established a couple of days ago. We weren't to talk to anyone about until they figured out who was going to head that department. Chanelle, I know you will do great and if you have any questions you know where my office is and speaking of office, I need to show you where your new office is." Wow I get a office. How sweet is this? I walk with John out of his office and down a hall. We move to a door and John gave me the key. "Go ahead and open it." He says with excitement. I open the door and I am floored. The office is very spacious.

"This...this is my office?" I questioned John while staring. He nodded and smiled. I could hug hime right now. This day is just awesome.

"You can take the rest of the day to move things in." He says. I walk back to my desk and start putting things into boxes for the move. Once I have everything packed, I begin to move everything into the office. I open the door and I see a bouquet of roses laying on the desk. I put my boxes down and pick up the flowers and the note card.

_**Congratulations on the promotion**_

_**You are the best person to run this department**_

_**C.G**_

I shake my head and smile. Could he be any sweeter? I unpack everything and set it up just how my cubicle was set up. Once everything is in place, I stand back and look around. I feel something missing from the office so I begin to mentally think about how I could dress it up and make it mine.

"Ms. Howard. I don't think you will get anything done if you stand here and stare off into space." I recognize that voice. I let out a sigh and turn around and smoldering gray meets warm light brown.

"Well Mr. Grey I am trying to figure out how to make my rather spacious office less...dull." I say with a smile and I begin to walk toward him. "But with you here, it's throwing off my concentration." He looks down to me as we stand only a mere few inches apart.

"Oh I am terribly sorry Ms. Howard. I was actually coming here to have lunch with you and discuss your plans for your department." Plans for my department?! I haven't really thought about that yet. I shut the door and walk pass him. I look up and look at him. "What's wrong Chanelle?" I let out a sigh.

"A few things. 1) This promotion. 2) Gideon but we will start with this promotion. Did you have your hand in this?" I ask. He looks at me confused and begins to speak but my office phone rang.

"Howard-Jones speaking."

"Hey Chanelle. I have a Gideon Cross here to see you." Fuck! I forgot he was suppose to cut me a check for all of the damages done.

"Tell Mr. Cross to come to my office. We have matters to discuss." I say as I hang up the phone. Christian is livid. I can feel it.

"Why the fuck is Cross here?" Christian says with gritted teeth. I sit in my chair and rub the bridge of my nose.

"He is paying me back for the damages done. He fears that I could go public about the rest of our not-so-normal relationship thus possibly ruining his career." I say letting out a sigh of defeat. "Christian, can you please behave?" He rolls his eyes and sighs.

"Fine but one wrong move he will regret it." There was a knock at the door. I shrugged on my suit jacket and sat at the desk. Christian stood to my right and buttoned his jacket.

"Come in!" I say a little too loudly. Gideon walks in and is stunned. "Mr. Cross." I say coldly. He smiles and closes the door.

"Ms. Howard. Grey." He says dryly. I feel Christian's hands grab mine and give it a reassuring squeeze.

"Cross." Christian's acknowledgement was about as cold as mine. I decided it was time to end the silent pissing contest between my boss and my ex

"How can I help you Mr. Cross?" He smiles and takes a step forward. I can feel the animosity radiating off Christian. I feel like I am going to hear it from him when I am done.

"Well, I owe you an apology and a huge sum of money. Chanelle. I am so sorry! I was in an extremely dark place when I destroyed your house." I scoffed. "I have wired you $25,000 and that should cover the cost of everything and if it doesn't I will send more if you ask." He says but I don't believe him. He has always had hidden agendas. Christian puts his hand on my lower back and I stiffen a little.

"You need to leave. Now!" Christian says calmly but I can hear the anger in his voice. Gideon smiles but it doesn't reach his eyes.

"Well, the last time I checked, your office was next door Grey. If I am going to get kicked out it needs to be Chanelle who gives me the boot and besides she wouldn't do..."

"You need to leave Gideon! I'm so freaking tired of you. The mere sight of you exhaust me." I walk up to him and stare him in his eyes. "You need to go back to New York. You and I will NEVER happen again." I step back behind my desk. Gideon narrowed his eyes and smirks.

"Ok Chanelle. As you wish but just know I have my eye on you. You will give into me one day." He says with a threatening voice. He walks out of my office and slams my door. I let out a breath and fell into my office chair. Gideon is so frustrating. Christian sits in front of me and I finally straighten up.

"I need a glass of wine or a beer." I say while I slam my head on the desk. My hair flying everywhere but Christian is amused. "What's so funny?"

"You Chanelle. If you are going to be a manager, you need to control your emotions. Leave the anger to us professional CEO's." I shoot him a cold glare and then stuck out my tongue. He runs his thumb across his lips and walked away. "I am going back to my office. Finish setting up here." He walks out and I begin to think. Think about Christian. Think about Gideon. Think about how I got this promotion. Think about the thought of being at Christian's mercy. I hold my hand up to my mouth after the last thought crossed. I begin to look around. Maybe I should give him a shot. See how good of a dominant he is. I setup my computer and began typing out an email to Christian.

To:Christian Grey

Subject: I have been doing some thinking...

From: Chanelle Howard-Jones

and I think i'm ready.

Let it sink in...

Chanelle Howard-Jones

Assistant to John Grossman Jr. Manager (Soon-to-be Jr. Manager)

I hit send and began to unpack the last of the boxes. A minute passed and my email notification goes off. I turn and opened it.

To:Chanelle Howard-Jones

Subject: Really now?

From: Christian Grey

Well I guess I need to make arrangements. I'll text you with details.

Christian Grey

Shocked CEO Grey Enterprises Holdings inc.

I begin to shudder but I don't know if it is because I am nervous or if I am excited. I hear my phone go off. I see that I have a text message from Christian.

_We will discuss what is expected of you when we get home. _

_I plan on leaving at 5 and you should too._

Yup! It's nerves. I struggle to find words to say but they aren't coming to me. I simply didn't reply. I finally unpacked all of the boxes and got into my work. I happen to look up at the clock and it is 4:59. I shut down my computer and head out.

"Hey Chanelle!" John calls out. Shit! I need to go now!

"Yeah John?" I walk back and stood in the door frame.

"Congrats again! I will see you tomorrow." John says. I give him a nod and run out of the doors. I push the elevator button. I finally make it to the ground floor and run to my car. I throw my stuff in and I speed off to Escala. While I am driving, so many thoughts are running through my head. Am I really ready to just dive back into that lifestyle? Maybe he'll go easy? Maybe he won't? Oh God I am terrified. What did I do? I finally pull up to Escala and Sawyer is standing outside. He walks up to my side of the car and open the door.

"Mr. Grey asked me to park your car Ms. Howard." He says. I give him a nod and began to walk around to grab my stuff. "Don't worry about that. I'll bring it up." I smile and walk in. I enter the code into the elevator and it jerks upward. I begin to pace back and forth. I feel like I opened up a can of worms I can't close. I finally reach the top and the elevator doors open. I see Taylor standing there and he nods.

"Good Evening Ms. Howard." He says.

"Hey Taylor." I say with a smile. He opens the door and I see Christian standing there wearing nothing but a pair of ripped up jeans. He looks dangerously hot. My breathing picked up and my flesh began to heat up. I shake my head to bring back my thoughts.

"Good evening Christian." I say without stumbling on a word. He smirks and walks toward me.

"Hello Chanelle." He circles me like a predator and I stood still like my feet were glued to the ground. He stops behind me and begins to take in my scent. He leans down and whispers in my ear. "You smell incredibly delicious Chanelle. We are going to have some fun. Follow me." He grabs my hand and steers me up toward the 2 large doors. "Are you sure about this?" He ask. "We don't have to do this if it's going to trigger a memory." I look at him and for once I don't have an answer but my day has been so stressful, I could use a little...relief.

"Yes Christian I am sure." I look at him. He nods and opens the door. He flips on the switch to turn the light on. It's a soft light nothing too harsh. I look around and i'm amazed at the amount of stuff he has but in ways I find this room sort of...relaxing.

"I want you to take everything off except your bra and panties then kneel over there and keep your eyes down." I nod in agreement and began to strip. Everything in my mind is telling me not to do it but I need it. I've gone so long without being able to submit to anyone. I just hope Christian isn't as harsh as Gideon. I go to kneel down and kept my head lowered. I hear movement throughout the room. I wonder what he is doing. I hear him walk toward the door and he locks it. I take a huge gulp. This is it! No turning away from it. I need to face my fear and get back into what I was doing originally. Being the submissive. He walks over and stands in front of me.

"Stand and turn around." He says with such a demanding voice. I practically start coming apart at the seams because of his voice. I do as he ask and then I feel my hair get pulled into a ponytail and braided down. Wow! Even I can't get a good ponytail to braid it down. I feel the urge to chuckle but if this is anything like Gideon, I will be severely punished for laughing.

"Turn and look at me." He says again. I can feel my muscles clinch up all over. This way too hot. "You know you look beautiful with and without clothes on. Now just to be clear. You are completely sure about this. We can stop now." Red flags are going up but I blatantly ignore them.

"Yes! I want this." I say in a whisper. He smirks and forcefully turns me around. He begins to move his hands all over my bare skin. My breathing quickens but I am counting in my head. I need to relax. I need to keep calm. Christian feels my body stiffen and stops. No! _Yes! _Why did he stop? I turn and I see him look me up and down.

"Chanelle...I can't do this to you. You can barely let me touch you for more than a minute." He says and let's out a heavy sigh. I'm fighting back tears. I start to back away from him. "Chanelle! Wait!" He says as I grab my clothes and run to the room I have been staying in. I get dressed and packed an old messenger bag and sat there. I need to run away for awhile. DAMNIT GIDEON! WHY THE HELL DID YOU DO THIS TO ME?! I heard another door close and I decided to peek out. I looked at both ends and there was no sign of anyone. I tiptoed out into the living room and no one was there. I made a break for the door and ran down the stairs. About five minutes later I was in the garage. I found my car and sped away from Escala. I begin crying on the way home. This whole thing is taking a toll on me. It's too overwhelming and nerve wrecking. I am in front of my recently fixed house. I miss this place. This was my own little world.

I got undressed and found a pair of my old scrubs and a wife beater I stole from my friend. I looked and noticed my hair was still braided. I undid the braid and wet it to throw it up in a messy bun. I walk out and just laid on the couch. I looked at my phone and noticed I had a voicemail from my dad. I groaned and hit the voicemail icon.

"_Chanelle! Are you okay? I got your voicemail and it is taking me all I have not to come back to Seattle. Maybe this move for you was too soon. I trust that Christian has handled the situation like he said he is. Anyway give me a call in the morning when you wake up. I love you Chanelle."_

I being to sob lightly and pull my legs up to my chest. This has seriously been the week from hell and I want to get away from it all. My phone lights up and it's a text from Christian.

_Chanelle! Where are you?_

I don't want to text him back so, I turn my phone off. I see lights in my driveway. Oh fuck! That may be Christian. I run into my studio and close the door. I hear knocking on my door and then all of a sudden a click. WHAT THE HELL?! DID HE MAKE COPIES OF MY KEYS?! I throw myself into one of the closets in the studio and stay there.

"Chanelle? Are you here?" Wait! That's not Christian. "Come out and play you bitch!" THAT'S GIDEON! Oh fuck! What can I do? I feel my phone in my pocket. Thankful it was on silent when I came in. I turned it back on and text Christian.

**Look I am sorry that I bailed. I wanted it and when you denied me I was upset.**

**I am in a bit of a situation...Gideon is in my house again!**

I hit send and I am hoping for a quick reply but to no avail there was none. I am sitting in my closet with my knees close to my chest. Suddenly, I hear someone come into the studio. Oh my God this is not happening right now.

Christian's POV

I wish she would text me back. I knew she wanted it but I just couldn't do it! My phone vibrates and I see a text from Chanelle.

_Look I am sorry that I bailed. I wanted it and when you denied me I was upset._

_I am in a bit of a situation...Gideon is in my house again!_

FUCK! I need to get there. "TAYLOR!" He comes running out with Sawyer. We need to go now.

"Sir?"

"It's Cross! He is in Chanelle's house again! We need to go!" Sawyer runs out and grabs the car. I grab a t-shirt and run out with Taylor. Fuck! Why is he doing this? We make it downstairs and I decided to grab my car. I run to it and turn it on and sped up to the SUV. "I am going ahead. Try to keep up!" My tires screech and I am off. I can see the SUV behind me. All I can think about is how scared Chanelle must be right now. I make it there and the SUV pulls up behind me. I see her door wide open and the Bentley SUV sitting in her driveway. I run in and survey what damage has been done which looks minimal.

"HELP ME! PLEASE SOMEONE HELP!" SHIT! THAT'S CHANELLE! I run and look everywhere to see where she is then it dawned on me. I ran to her studio and listened. "PLEASE SOMEBODY HELP..." I heard a loud slap. I hear her sobbing lightly

"SHUT THE FUCK UP! NOBODY IS HERE TO SAVE YOU! Now to finish what I started 3 years ago." Gideon says. I burst through the door and tackle him. I am waling on his face until he is bleeding. I see Chanelle in a corner with her knees to her chest rocking back and forth. I stop and look at her and I noticed the small cut above her eyebrow and the ripped shirt. She is looking off in the distance whispering to herself.

"Everything is ok! Everything is ok! Everything is ok! 1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10..." Geez she is really shaken up about this. She turns her attention to me and she becomes wide eyed. I slowly walk to her.

"Chanelle? It's me. Christian. Are you ok?" I say gently. I don't know what to make of this. She shakes her head quickly. "Can I get you anything? A glass of water?" I ask and she shakes her head.

"Gone..." She whispers out. I can barely hear her. She is too beautiful to be this broken. She looks to me for answers and then she turns her attention to Gideon's body. She looks down, grabs her hair as if she was going to rip it out and let's out a chilling scream. I yelled for Sawyer and told him to take Gideon's body and put it outside for his driver to deal with. I called Flynn. Maybe he could help her. Within minutes he was at the house.

"Christian. Do you know whose Bentley that was? It nearly ran me over." He nods

"John. Gideon Cross. I'll explain later. Can you please help me? She is in this mental state that I can't bring her out of." John smiles.

"Christian. This should be familiar to you. It looks like she is showing the same traits as you when you were a kid but I will do my best." He walks over to Chanelle and begins to kneel down with her. "Hi Chanelle. I am Dr. Flynn. How are you?" She looks at me and then back at Flynn.

"Gone..." She whispers again.

"Who's gone Chanelle?" He says. His voice is calm.

"The monster. He's gone...right?" Flynn looks at me and I mouthed Gideon's name. He nodded.

"Yes Chanelle. He isn't here. It's just me, you and Christian." When Flynn said my name it seemed like she snapped out of her behavior and looked up at me. She crawled away from the corner, away from Flynn and moved to my side and kneeled in the position I had her in the playroom. "Is she one of your..." I shook my head. I don't want that for her. Not how broken she is. I want her to have more which is something I am not used to. "Well, get her cleaned up and I suggest taking her back to your apartment. Keep an eye on her Christian. She may be a little unstable for a bit." John said and he left. I picked her up and carried her to her room. I sat her on the bed and went into the bathroom to wet a washcloth and I wiped her face and neck. I picked her up and carried her to the SUV. I had Taylor drive my car and I sat in the back of the SUV with Chanelle. I stroked her hair trying to get her to relax. She let's out a sigh and then her arm goes limp. She passed out. Oh you beautiful woman! What to do with you?


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: I gotta thank my friend Jessie for writing out this chapter for me. I am only here for a short period of time.  
**

**Chanelle's POV**

I am graced by the smell of blueberry pancakes and bacon and the sun shining in my eyes. Damn! I am hot! I look down and get scared but then I look at the arm and I relax. How did I get back here? I begin to slip out body parts away from Christian's. He begins to stir. I turn and his eyes open.

"Good morning!" He says like a sleepy child. I smile then begin to rub my head. It hurts and then I go pass this cut on my forehead. I frown and Christian becomes worried.

"Good morning. Why is there a cut on my forehead and why am I here? I remember leaving and going home. I cried and then I saw car lights and I ran into my room and got into the closet but the rest is a blur." Christian looks down and begins stroking my hair. He reaches for he cell phone and looks for a text I sent him. I put my hand over my mouth. That fucking does it! I am done with him and now he is going to pay. I hop out of bed and pace the floor. "I think it's time for me to pay a visit to New York. I need to book a flight. I reach for my laptop and begin searching for a flight but Christian close my laptop and moves it.

"I'll go with you. I need to go visit the satellite office anyway. We will leave at noon." Christian said. I go into the closet and grab a suitcase. I can't believe him right now. I need to know what happened. I was done packing for the last minute trip within 5-10 minutes. I stormed out of the room and Christian followed me. "Chanelle! Hold on! Let's think this through." I'm getting angry.

"Think what through Christian? He could have killed me last night! This shit needs to fucking end now!" I make my way into the living room and he grabs my elbow. "What are you doing Christian?"

"I am stopping you from making a stupid mistake Chanelle. I know you're on edge and you have every right to be but please we don't need to cause a scene." I sigh.

"Christian I need this. Are you with me or not?" I snatched my arm away from him and sat and ate breakfast. He comes up and sits next to me and stares at me. He begins to chuckle. "What's so funny?"

"You are such a headstrong woman but that can get you into serious trouble." He said while giving me a kiss on my cut. "Taylor put our bags in the car. We are headed for Sea-Tac" He says while eating his breakfast. After about an hour of silence we were finally heading out. We climb into the back of the Q7 an sit in silence again. Ugh! The silence is killing me.

"I won't confront him! We'll call this a vacation ok?" I say. He looks over and smiles to me.

"Ok Chanelle." He touches my knee and for once I don't stiffen up. I put my hands on top of his and he smiles back at me.

I begin to think about the last few days with Christian. I wonder if I am ready to handle another relationship. "What if he doesn't want to be with me because i'm..." I say to myself but I erase the thought automatically. I see the airport but we go pass the exit for arrivals and departures.

"Ummmmm...don't we need to figure out what airline we are taking to New York?" I ask Christian. He giggles and let's out a sigh.

"Oh Chanelle you are too cute." I turn to face front and we are sitting by a gate. I look up and I see a private jet with the letters GEH across the side. HOLY HELL! HE HAS A PRIVATE JET?! My head begins to swim. He is obscenely rich. We stop and Taylor let's me out and I begin to marvel at this thing. Christian comes up to the side of me and places his hand on my shoulder.

"I am pretty sure this is misuse of company property." I say. I look up and see him giggling.

"It is but who runs the company? Oh yeah! Me!" I snap to shoot him a cold glare. He holds his hands up and shakes his head. "Man if looks could kill, I think I would be dead 3 times over." He smiles and I relax. We walk toward the plane and the steps come down. I hate flying with a passion but I am hoping I feel a little comfortable on this seeing as though it's a private jet. "Shall we?" Christian asked and I nod my head. We get on the plane and I am in total awe. The color scheme of this plane is perfect. I take a seat in one of the chairs and relish in its comfortableness.

"Grey! You are apart of the people I envy and hate. You have everything." He shrugs and sits next to me.

"I give to the little people when I can!" I again shoot him another cold look. "Would you like a tour before we take off?" He ask. I tried not to roll my eyes and I nod. I get up and walk around. We come to the last door in the back and he opens it. I am stunned and didn't think it was physically possible. "This is the master bedroom. Please go in." I walk slowly inside and look around.

"You are way too rich for me Grey. How in sam hell did you manage to get a full bedroom on here?" I ask in disbelief.

"I have my ways but it's not impossible." He says with a smile. A guy who looked to be the pilot or first mate came to the back and we smiled.

"We are ready for departure so if you would take your seats we can get underway." I gave him a small nod. I walked to my seat and Christian followed. A blond girl with the prettiest blue eyes offered us champagne and I immediately said yes. Christian eyed me as I waited for my glass.

"What? It's happy hour somewhere!" I smiled and he shot me with a cold glare but his look is for good reason. After the incident at my house when I got incredibly drunk on my couch, he didn't want me to drink anymore. I am a grown woman and if I want a glass of an alcoholic beverage I will get one. She brings out the glass and I take a sip.

The plane jerks forward and I get nervous. I sit my head on the head rest and began to breathe. Christian looks at me and begins to laugh.

"Flying is not your best option is it?" He says. I shake my head and he laughs more. "Is that the reason why you got the glass of champagne?" I nod.

"Where are we staying Christian?" I ask.

"W Hotel. I heard that was your favorite hotel." He says while smiling. I lean back and wait till the plane hits cruising altitude. Once in the air, I move to the room and lay down. This has been pretty damn hectic couple of days and i'm glad I can escape. I need to contact a few people when I land. I hear a knock at the door and Christian appears.

"I hope i'm not interrupting anything." He says while leaning against the doorway.

"No. I was actually hoping we can talk." He came in and closed the door. He sits next to me and looks deeply into my eyes. I let out a sigh. "Well...I...I was wondering how you feel about me Christian? You have spent more money on me than I could ever pay back, i'm staying at your place and now we are taking a "vacation" to New York. If i'm not what you want then tell me. It seriously pains me how much i'm attracted to you and I just don't want..." He covers my mouth with his and lays me down.

"Chanelle, I don't know how many times I have to tell you. I am highly attracted to you and I will give anything to be with you. I know Cross messed you up but trust me the rest of us billionaires aren't like that prick." I giggle. He lays next to me and stares at the ceiling.

"Christian...I..." I become nervous around him again. "Thank you. For everything." He runs his fingers his fingers through my hair. I let out a breath and begin to doze off. I feel him leave my side and gently walk out of the room. I begin to toss and turn but alas sleep eludes me once more. I look over and I see my laptop case. I pull it out along with my headsets and begin to listen to music. I have also been a fan of writing too so, I begin to type out my feelings on the computer. I look up and see the door was opened a bit. I unplugged my headsets and put them in my iPod touch. I walk out and I see Christian on the plane's phone.

"Yes. Can you have them delivered to the room? I also..." He looks up and smiles. "I'll send you an email as soon as I land." He gets up and gives me a small hug. "Welcome to the world of the living. How did you sleep?" I looked down and back up at him.

"I didn't really sleep. I had too many thoughts on my mind so, I decided to type and listen to music." I said while giving him a shy smile. I sit down in his chair and cross my legs.

"We are almost in New York." He says. Shit! Have we've been flying for 5 ½ hours already?! It's amazing how time flies when you are doing absolutely nothing. I run into the room and grab my laptop. I take my seat across from him and begin to type again. "So what are you typing?" I look up and I smiled at him.

"It's personal Mr. Grey." I snickered a bit and he smiled.

"I love when a female giggles. It's a beautiful sound." I can feel my face heat up.

"You haven't heard my ugly laugh." I say while smiling and typing. "I have to use the bathroom." I do something slick and I turn my computer to face him. I walk away and close the door.

**Christian's POV**

She turned her computer on purpose. She wanted me to know what she was typing. I wonder why? I begin to read what she has typed.

_I thought coming to Seattle was going to make my life hard. I wouldn't have my friends, my family...nothing. It's like I hit the reset button on a game. I'm starting over...in another state. The day I got here, I knew this is exactly what I needed. I couldn't be on the east coast anymore especially knowing that Gideon knew exactly where I lived and where I stayed in NYC. I have met some incredible people. My boss John Grossman is a doll face. He is the sweetest, most caring guy I have ever known. His wife is lucky to have him. Tiffany from Star Bar made my performance there a memorable one. The place was packed with people._

_The one person that I am extremely thankful for is Christian Grey CEO of Grey Enterprises Holdings inc. When Gideon found about me being in Seattle, he flipped his lid. The day he saw Christian and I in that warm embrace, I felt like that was the day he vowed vengeance against me, my family and now Christian. I didn't want Christian to get involved because I didn't know him at the time but also because I know Gideon is a dangerous man. My friend told me that he had Eva's step-brother killed because he raped her way back when but I didn't see anything on it so I thought it was a tabloid story to make Gideon look bad._

_Back to Christian. I guess what I am really trying to say is that...I think I am falling for him. I vowed to never get with another suit because of Gideon but there is something about Christian that I like. Something about him that draws me in closer to him. In ways, I want to break the traditional bullshit and ask him out but he looks like he doesn't have the time for me running a successful billion dollar company and all. -Sigh- I think I will eventually find someone who loves me even through my flaws and fuck ups..._

I begin to think and I smile. I type something under her last paragraph and turn the laptop back around. I hear the bathroom door open and she walks back to the seat.

**Chanelle's POV**

I look to see my laptop turned facing my chair. "I take it you read my writing?" I say with a hint of a smile. He nods and I look away.

"Look at the bottom." He says. I look at him confused and look toward the bottom.

_**I felt the same way. Thinking that no one would want to be with me. That and other reasons was why I got into the BDSM lifestyle. There is something about you Chanelle that is drawing me away from the lifestyle and leaning toward 'more'. You talked to Gideon about taking risks. Well, I am asking you to take a risk with me. I will make time for you. I will make you comfortable and more importantly, I wouldn't discourage you from singing. What do you say Chanelle?**_

I look at him with loving eyes and begin to cry a little. I reach for my laptop and begin to type.

_Yes Christian. I will._

I turn the laptop toward him and he looks and smiles. The stewardess comes out and let's us know that we will be descending soon. We buckled our seat belts and I looked out the window. I can only think about how jealous my friends are going to be.

About 20 minutes later, we landed at JFK Airport and I have to say I do miss this city even for the short period I lived here. I climb out of the plane with my laptop bag and my luggage bag and began to look around. "The city that never sleeps..." I whisper to myself. I look to my left and my smile fades.

"Looks like someone followed us here." I point to the private plane to left of us. I look at Christian's face and he doesn't look the slightest bit amused. He hugs me closer and and we walk to our limo.

We pull up in front of the W hotel and I see my friend Kellie working in the restaurant that is attached to the hotel. I walk up to the host stand and as always she isn't paying attention. I snickered.

"Excuse me! Table for one please!" She looks up and screams. She runs around and gives me the biggest hug.

"CHANELLE! OH MY GOD! Look at you! You look adorable. How have you been? We thought we would never see you again after the incident." I smiled and hugged her again.

"I'm fine. Moved to the west coast, have a well paying job and a banging car thanks to my dad." She laughed.

"So he made you get rid of that awful Jetta? So who are you here with or are you by yourself?" As I went to go answer the question, I see Kellie's eyes light up.

"Christian is standing behind me isn't he?" I say with humor. She nods her head fast. I turn to him and give him a smile. "Can you not give my friends heart attacks while we are in New York?" I say while laughing. He smiles and kisses my forehead. "Kellie. I'm officially dating Christian Grey but you can't say a word to anyone. I'm inviting you guys over for dinner tonight and I will surprise everyone then." She let's out a breath as if she was holding it.

"Chanelle. A word." I hold up a finger to Christian and he hands me a key and the number to the room.

"I'll see you upstairs." He mouthed and Kellie pulled me into the corner. I have a feeling this is going to be a lecture.

"So when did you guys make it official?" She asked.

"Would you believe me if I said an hour ago?" I said with a smile. She hugs me tightly. I know where this is heading.

"Are you sure about dating another suit Chanelle. The whole thing with Gideon messed you up badly and i'm just looking out for you." She says with concern. I know how she feels and I felt the same way but I need to try again. I can't let one jerk face ruin it for everyone.

"I haven't been so sure about this in my life. There is so much I need to tell you guys." Kellie looks back and see she is being called over by Gideon. I lean over and I see that he is with his bitch. "Kells, I got to go. I will see you tonight." I give her a hug and ran to the elevator. When the elevator came down and opened, I walked in. Gideon is standing by the restaurant entrance. He smiles and I flip him off. I lean back in the corner and took the elevator to the last floor.

I walked out of the elevator and headed towards our room. Christian was sitting at the desk and talking on the phone. I marveled at the large amounts of space this place has. I walk and find the bathroom. I decided to take a quick shower. I begin to strip and and stand in the shower. I let the hot water run along my back and I can feel the stress melt away. All of a sudden I feel myself stiffen when I feel arms around my waist but I knew it was Christian.

"You love to make a quiet appearance." I say with a smile.

"You look lovely when you're naked. I couldn't resist." He says while kissing my hair. I lean into his hard body and I can feel him stiffen. I jumped and turned around. I look at him and walk out of the shower. I grab two fluffy towels and wrapped one around my hair. I go into the second room and noticed my stuff wasn't in there. Great! I need clothes. I walk into the room Christian is in and I see my luggage in there. I shut the door and lock it. I know how he feels now. I dried myself off and put on a pair of sweats and my Flyers shirt and grabbed my slippers. I sit on the bed and I started making some phone calls. I needed to call one person in particular. I needed to call Samantha. I dial her number and it begins to ring.

"You know I was just thinking about you. How in the world are you Chanelle?" She says with humor.

"Hey Sammy! I'm fine. Doing a lot better. I missed you a lot." I say softly. She sighs and it sounds like she is about to cry.

"I missed you too Chanelle. It's been absolutely hell for me to deal with the fact that Gideon did that to you." I let out a sigh.

"Sammy! It wasn't anybody's fault but mine. I let him stay there. Hey look i'm in New York for a few days. Come to dinner tonight at the W hotel." I say. There is a long string of silence.

"Yeah sure. What time?" She says. I smile and started to bounce up and down.

"7pm. It's in a few hours. Go get dressed! I know how long it takes you to get ready." I say while laughing.

"Ok. Ok! I'm going. I'll see you in a few hours." We both hang up and I begin to rummage through my suitcase. I think I will wear my black shirt and my pink skinny jeans with my black and pink Giuseppe Zanotti heels. I blow dry my hair and begin to straighten it. There was a knock at the door. I put down my flat irons and unlock the door.

"Chanelle. I'm sorry about what happened in the shower." Christian says with sorrow. I didn't mean to get upset. It sucks that I can somewhat trust him to touch me but he can't trust me. I wonder if he will ever tell me what happened in the past where he won't let people touch him.

"No. It's fine. I didn't mean to get upset." He smiles and kisses my forehead. "Are you getting ready for dinner?"

"Yes and you are cordially invited. I'm officially announcing to my friends that you are off the market." He smiles and kisses my forehead again. I begin to giggle as he walks away.

"You have the cutest laugh." He says and I smile. Time seems to fly and i'm ready. I walk out and I see Christian sitting on the chair in the living room. He looks at me and I smile.

"Well, what do you think?" I ask him. He gets up and puts his arm around my waist.

"You look like a cute highlighter." He laughs and I hit him in the arm. I get a text from Kellie to let me know everyone is here and in the party room in the far left of the restaurant. I let out a sigh and head for the door. "Are you upset about my comment?" He said. I laughed and shook my head.

"I may look like a cute highlighter but i'm your cute highlighter." I say with a smile. He picks me up and kisses me.

"You certainly are. Shall we go to dinner?" I nod and we walk out of the door.

We finally make it down to the lobby and we walked across to the restaurant. The hostess was gawking at Christian and I began to snicker. I tell her that we have a party here already and she recognized me instantly. We walk and I stop Christian.

"Stay here. I'm going to surprise them." I say and he nodded. I walk into the party room and everyone is there. Heather, Sam, Kellie, Chrissy, Nicole, Jamie, Kathy and Jules! They all run up and give me the biggest hug.

"Hey guys! I actually have some news to tell you...well rather show you but I need you guys to close your eyes and Kellie since you know already make sure they keep their eyes close." I run out to get Christian. I get the all clear from Kellie. We walk in together and I decided i'm going to make this fun. "Ok girls! Who is the one person that you wanted to meet?" In unison, they all said Christian's name. I begin to laugh and I look over he is smiling and shaking his head.

"Well now is your chance." Christian said and their eyes flew open. They all sat with their mouthes open.

" ' .Real!" Heather said quietly. I nodded.

"Christian and I are dating and I figured I would introduce him to you guys since you guys are overly-obsessed with him." All of the girls give me a group hug and they are crying.

"Chanelle! We are so proud of you to move on from the douche canoe Cross and you put the icing on the cake by dating his way hotter and way wealthier competition. Well done ma'am well done." Chrissy says and I flip her off.

"It's not about the money Christina but I will give you the way hotter part." I say and she shrugs. We all order our dinners and they begin to interrogate him and for good reason. They were all there for the incident with Gideon and they are just trying to make sure that nothing like that happens again.

"So Christian, what are intentions with Chanelle?" Jamie asked

"Well, i'm hoping that we can build something off of the shaky ground we started on. She had every reason to be apprehensive of me." Christian says business like.

"Are you looking to be with her long term?" Jules asked.

"I am looking to be with her as long as possible. She is a wonderful woman, has a wonderful singing voice and very headstrong." He said. Our dinners arrive and they paused the interrogation to marvel at the food. Christian called over the waiter who was serving us and asked for 3 bottles of Cristal Champagne and that the dinner is to be put on the room. I know that look on Heather's face and she looked at Christian like he was a criminal.

"Just so we are clear Mr. Grey. You hurt a single hair on Chanelle, I will find you and I will hurt you. Chanelle is fragile enough and she doesn't need another suit messing up her life. She is a good girl so you better treat her right." Heather spits out. I need air. I excuse myself and walk out of the room. I go outside of the hotel and breathe in the chilly New York air. I look across the street and I see Gideon's Bentley. "Great. Perfect timing." I whisper to myself. I turn around and begin to walk into the hotel when I run into a very hard body. I look up and noticed it was Gideon. He gives me and evil smirk.

"So we run into each other again Chanelle." I looked at him up and down and I moved to walk around him. He grips my arm tightly.

"AAAAAHHHHHH! FUCK GIDEON THAT FUCKING HURTS! LET ME GO!" I scream out.

"Oh! You are such a screamer." He pulls me closer and I let out a scream and he hits me in the head. I'm fading in and out. I can feel my feet leave the ground. I see Christian run out with my friends and I go black.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Sorry for taking so long with this update. I literally went through this 15 times and changed a lot of things! Enjoy**

**Christian's POV**

I hear Chanelle scream from inside of the restaurant. I ran out and her friends followed me. I see Gideon crossing the street with Chanelle draped across his shoulder. He throws her in the back of his SUV and pull of quickly. DAMNIT! This can't be happening right now. I walk back into the lobby and I see everyone looking at me.

"Did she..." Kellie couldn't find the words.

"No. She was taken by Gideon. I seen him throw her in the back of his car." I said while running my hands through my hair. I see Heather fall to the ground and begin to cry.

"This is all of my fault. I let my anger get the best of me and I knew she was going to run away because anytime I speak my mind, it irritates her." Heather is placing the blame on herself but in all actuality, I should have went for her. "We have to get her back!" Heather says through her tears.

"I can't risk you girls getting hurt. I'd rather you girls go home and wait it out." I say. I don't want them to get hurt. Jules walked up to me and showed me her military I.D.

"I can assure you Mr. Grey that all of these girls have been fully trained by me to handle the most toughest situations. Did Chanelle tell you she can handle a sniper rifle?" She asked me. I shook my head. I'm very anti-gun but I guess it is for her own good.

"Ok fine but I don't want any of you getting hurt." I say and they all smile.

"Oh don't worry about us Grey. We have our ways." Kellie says. The girls go out of the door and head for a van sitting in front of the hotel. I wonder what they are doing. My phone rings and it's Chanelle calling.

"Chanelle?" I say with excitement but then I get angry.

"Nope but she is...tied up at the moment. You never mentioned how absolutely gorgeous she looks bonded." Gideon says while laughing.

"What do you want Cross?"

"I want you to head back to Seattle and leave Chanelle here with me. She doesn't want you Grey." He spits out. I begin to chuckle a little bit and even though she didn't sign a contract to become my submissive, I can pretend she did. "What's so funny Grey?"

"She doesn't want me? Well, if she didn't want me, she wouldn't have agreed. She is legally mine Cross and I can have you arrested for stolen property. See Cross, we are both in the same boat. High powered with a lot of skeletons in our closets. Give me back Chanelle!" He begins to laugh and I become more concerned and angry.

"See it's not so...WHAT THE FUCK?!" He screamed in the phone as glass shattered in the background. "FUCK! MY LEG!" I hear a door open and slam against the wall. I hear a familiar voice in the background.

"We told you not to fuck with Chanelle and you didn't heed our warning Cross now you are laying here with a bullet in the fucking leg. How does it feel you bastard?" That's Jules! I'm grateful for her friends but they are pretty violent. The phone moves and I catch my breath.

"We have her! Cross was stupid enough to bring her back to his place. We are on our way back to the hotel." Kellie said as she hung up. I loosened my tie and made my way up to the room. Once there, i'm going for the brandy. I pour a little bit into a glass and down it. I'm going to have to double security for us while we are here. There was a knock on the door. I walk up to go answer it and it was the girls and Chrissy had Chanelle in her arms. She handed her over and Heather walked up to me.

"Please take good care of her Grey. She has been through hell and back with Gideon and I don't want a repeat incident. None of us do. She is like our younger sister and we will do anything to protect her and i'm sorry about tonight. I shouldn't have grilled you like that." She looks down and I give her a nod.

"All is forgiven Heather. I thank you and the rest of the girls for your help." She turns and walks away. I close and lock the door. I walk to the room and lay her on the bed and I sit down, watching her. Such a beautifully broken angel. I want to fix everything in her life but how can I when I haven't even dealt with the situations in my life?

**Chanelle's POV**

I blink my eyes open and sit up quickly. I begin to run and bang on the door. "HELP! SOMEONE HELP ME PLEASE!" I feel strong arms on me and I kick and scream! "GET OFF ME GIDEON! PLEASE? LET ME GO!" I feel gentle hands in my hair and a soft kiss planted there. I look around and I noticed i'm back at the hotel. I breathe in and smell Christian and began to relax.

"You sure know how to wake someone up." He says with a hint of humor. I drop down to my knees and began to cry. "It's ok Chanelle. You're with me now. No need to cry." His words were soft and gentle.

"When did I come back?" I asked. I was confused. All I remember was being hit and thrown into the back of the Bentley.

"A few hours ago. Your friends saved you." I got to thank Jules. She had that plan in place since the breakup.

"Where did he take me?" I asked again. Christian sat on the floor with me.

"His place."

"How fucking predictable! He is now known as the worst abductor in history!" Christian and I both began to snicker. He looks at me and runs his hands through my hair. "Christian...you...you shouldn't be with me. I'm just too much trouble." He holds my head between his hands and looks at me

"I'm just glad that you are safe and unscathed sort of. Things could have gone differently you know." He says.

"At least I know nothing major happened but I can't make any guarantee that he won't try something like this again. Actually, there is someone I need to see tomorrow. Right now, I just want to snuggle up in the sheets and watch Vampire Diaries and Scandal on Netflix." I say while stretching upward. He begins to tickle me and I fall to the floor. "HAHAHAHAHA! Christian stop it! Stop! Ahhh! Christian?! Stop I can't breathe!" He stops and picks me up and puts me in the bed. He kisses me gently and then backs away then he comes and kisses me with such hunger. I lean into it and moan in his mouth. I move my hands upward and lock them. Christian lifts up my shirt and reveals my black and white lace bra. He smiles as he kisses downward. He gets up and lays on the bed. I roll over and put my hands on each side of his head and kiss him.

"Are you sure about this Chanelle?" Christian asks with concern. I smile and look at him.

"I have never been so sure in my life." I say. He smiles and we go under the covers.

The morning came and it was a gray, dull, lifeless New York morning. I grab the shirt that Christian was wearing and walk over to the window. It's snowing a little and I see people scurrying to get where they need to be. I grab my cell and walk out to the living room and I begin to make coffee. While i'm waiting for the coffee to finish I decided to dance. I put on 'Alone' by Sistar. I love this song because before I left for Seattle, Aisha and I would do the dance in the living room of my parents house. I began to do the dance and i'm in my own world. I went to drop my leg to the side and I feel hands run up my leg. I stop and turn into him.

"Good morning Mr. Grey. Did I wake you?" He smiled and ran his fingers through his hair and kissed my forehead.

"Yes but what I walked out seeing was well worth it." He says while walking over to get to mugs out of the cabinet. He pours coffee into the mugs and there was a knock at the door. "Did you order breakfast?" I bit my lip and walked away to put some sweats on. I came back and he laid out our breakfast on the dinning table.

"I took the liberty of ordering us breakfast and I chose for you if that's ok." I said looking into his eyes.

"That's fine. What do you have planned for today?" He asked me. I can't let him know i'm confronting Eva about Gideon but I hate lying to him.

"I'm not sure. I was hoping I could accompany you to the Crossfire building. You could use my interior decorating expertise." I say in hopes that I could see Eva. Christian's face is expressionless. Fuck! I hope he isn't mad that I made that suggestion.

"Out of the question Chanelle. Gideon will be there and i'm already pissed at him for taking you. I am not letting him get that close to you again." He says forcefully. Fuck! I need a plan B. _Think Chanelle!_

"Well then, I will go to a spa and pamper myself." Though not a full lie but i'm still going to Crossfire to talk to Eva.

"Great! I'm going to get dressed to meet with that fucker Cross." He says and gives me a kiss on the cheek and walks away. I run into the spear bedroom with my phone and try to book a car for the day since Christian was taking the one we were sharing. I manage to get a Mercedes CLK for a cheap price too. "Chanelle! I'm leaving. I'll see you later." Christian yells out.

"Ok. Have fun! Don't kill anyone please?" I yell back. He laughs and closes the door. I hop in the shower really quick and wash up. After the shower I brushed my hair up in a ponytail and stood in front of the closet. He must have unpacked our bags. I decided on a simple long sleeve black dress and my Jessica Simpson nude pumps. I pulled out my black trench coat and did my make up. I got the call from my driver saying he was here and I left the room. Today should be an interesting one.

I get downstairs and I see the black Mercedes sitting in the front of the hotel and I smiled.

"CHANELLE!" I heard someone yell out. I turn around and I see Kellie getting ready to start her shift.

"Hey! What's up?" I asked. She is studying me up and down making sure I was ok.

"You look hot. Where are headed?" She asked. I can't tell her I am going to see Eva. She would kill me.

"Ummm...i'm meeting up with my dad and Christian for lunch then going to do a bit of shopping." I say. She eyes me suspiciously and nods.

"Oh ok! Have fun. I'm her till 11:30. Come visit me." Kellie said. I smiled and headed out the door. I walked out and the driver hops out of the car and opens the back door. I slide in and waited for him to get back in. When he gets in, he starts the car.

"Where to ma'am?" He asked.

"The Crossfire Building. I have some business there." I said forcefully but I didn't mean to say it like that. He nods and pulls out into the New York Traffic. I look out the window and begin to remember all the good times I had in this city. Catching the subway had to be the most confusing though.

"We are here ma'am. Am I to wait for you?" I look up and I see the Audi Q7 sitting there.

"Yes. I won't be long." I said. He got out and opened the door. I put on my Coach shades and walked in the building. I walked up to the security desk and said I had an appointment with Mark Garrity which was Eva's boss. Security gave me a visitor's pass and I headed up to the office.

I walk in the door and I see the receptionist. "Excuse me. I am here to see Eva Tramell. My name is Chanelle Howard-Jones." The receptionist eyes me and makes a phone call. She looks at me and hangs up the phone.

"She'll be right with you. Please take a seat." She says and I smile at her. I hear someone walking and I see a blond come out of nowhere.

"Well! Well! looked what the cat dragged in? Hello Chanelle." I can't stand this bitch. We were friends but she broke the number one chick rule...Never date the same guy your friend broke up with. I stand up and give her air kisses.

"Eva. It's lovely to see you again. I was wondering if we could talk. How about lunch?" I say. I just want her to know that I have no interest in Gideon and now that we aren't friends (and now business partners) that she can have the slime ball.

"Sure. Let me get my purse." She walks away and I'm waiting. She comes back a few minutes later. "Where would you like to go?"

"Anywhere." We both decided on going to a deli not far from here. We get to the elevator and catch it down. As we hit the ground floor, I got this erie feeling like I was being watched. Both of our cell phones went off. I got a text from Christian.

_YOU ARE IN SERIOUS TROUBLE CHANELLE!_

Fuck! I knew I was being watched from the moment I stepped foot into the building. I rolled my eyes and Eva laughed.

"I take it you got an angry text message." She asked I smirked and shook my head yes. We finally got to the deli and had a seat after we got out food. "Listen Chanelle! I know we aren't on the best of terms but you have to understand that I'm falling for Gideon and he doesn't want you anymore." She say and I begin to laugh. "What's so funny?"

"I actually brought you here to tell you about the extra curricular activities your darling Gideon has been involved in." She stops eating and takes a sip of her water.

"You had sex with him recently?!" That was an incredibly stupid question.

"No Eva. Did he tell you he was going to Seattle for a few days?" I looked up and her face went pale.

"No. He didn't. Why was he in Seattle?" She asked.

"Making my life even more of a living hell than it already is. He destroyed my house Eva and tried to rape me again." Her face goes red.

"I don't believe you!" She gets up and walks away.

"Ask him Eva. Wouldn't hurt." I say as I get up and follow her out. She stopped dead in her tracks and I look up and I see Christian and Gideon standing there in front of their cars. Fuck! I know I'm in trouble. I noticed the Christian's eyes were focused on Eva. What is going on here?

"Chanelle, You are dating Christian Grey?" She asked. I nod slightly and she rolled her eyes. What the hell was that about? I am so confused.

"Hello Eva." Christian said. WHOA! What the hell did I miss?

"Um...yeah! How do you know each other by the way?" Eva looks at Gideon and looks to Christian.

"I worked for Christian for a little bit before moving to New York. So Christian are you still the biggest asshole ever or have you changed?" I shoot Eva a cold look and she is smiling. Gideon walks up in between me and Eva and places his hand on her shoulder.

"Well, this is an interesting turn of events. While you sort this out, I'm going to take my errant girlfriend back to work." Gideon grips up Eva and pulls her towards the Bentley.

"Oh Gideon! Make sure you tell her about how you kidnapped me yesterday. I'm sure she would love to hear all about it." I say. Christian grabs my arm and angrily whispers in my ear.

"Get in the car. Now!" I look at him and began to walk back to Crossfire.

"I have a car since you took the only car we had." I said. He grabs me again.

"Now you don't. Gideon thought it was a friend of his and the driver said he was driving you around. I paid him and sent him off. Now get in the fucking car Chanelle!" I snatched my arm away from him and climb in the back of the Q7. We pulled into the traffic and I looked out my window.

"What the fuck were you thinking Chanelle?" He yelled.

"Not now Christian." I said in an angry whisper. I don't want to talk in the car. I would rather us talk in the privacy of our own space.

"I asked you a question Chanelle." He spat out. I began to shake. I tried my hardest to calm down but it wasn't working.

"Not now Christian. We will talk back at the hotel." I can feel my voice raise in volume. He looked at me. Does this man think i'm really going to give him an answer right here right now? He must not know who I am.

"ANSWER THE FUCKING QUESTION! WHY WERE YOU WITH GIDEON'S GIRLFRIEND? WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM?" He yelled out and like that I mentally blackout.

"WE WILL TALK IN THE FUCKING HOTEL ROOM CHRISTIAN! I'M NOT ABOUT SHOUTING MATCHES SO PLEASE JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP UNTIL WE ARE IN PRIVATE!" I spit out and I see his face go red. We arrived to the hotel and I jump out of the car and walked into the hotel. I hopped in the awaiting elevator and hit the button for the last floor. I see Christian stride toward the closing doors but he was too late. I made it to the room before he did. I kick off my shoes and go into the bathroom. I turn the tub on an set up a bath. I ran into our room and grab my iPod dock and iPod. I turned it all the way up, locked the bathroom door and get into the bathtub.

"CHANELLE! WHERE ARE YOU?" Christian yelled. I didn't pay any attention to his irate behavior but I let my problems melt away. I looked to my left and I see small bottles of Jack Daniels. "Ah JD! My best friend. You never let me down." I whispered to myself. I opened up one bottle and I down the amber liquid. It burns on the way down but it feels so good. I get out of the tub and I begin to dry myself off and put on my pajamas. I opened the second bottle and down it. I'm starting to feel tipsy but it feels good. I sit on the toilet lid and opened up the third bottle. I struggle with this one and I took four large sips. I went to open the bathroom door and I fell to my knees. Christian sees me and he comes running to make sure i'm ok.

"Are you drunk Chanelle? What have you been drinking?" He looks over and see 3 empty bottles of Jack Daniels on the bathroom floor.

"W-What's it to you Grey? Yo-yo-you don't like me! I think y-yo-you think I am a horrible person and I am (burp) ok with that." I look up into his eyes and I think i'm seeing double.

"Come on Chanelle! You need water." He picks me up and move me into the room. I flop on the bed.

"Christian! Wh-Why are you so mean to me?" I said pointing to my chest. I begin to giggle and he walks out of the room. When he leaves, I grab one of his work shirts and take off my sweat pants. I walk out of the room and stumble to the kitchen. He turns around and let's out a sigh.

"Chanelle what are you doing?" I stalk over to him with grace and balance and put my hands on the granite counter top.

"I want you to take me. Posses me. I want to be-be-be everything you want." I go to kiss him on the cheek and he moves.

"Chanelle you are incredibly drunk and have no idea what you are talking about." He walks away and I fall. I stood up slowly and realize the room is spinning too fast. Oh I think i'm going to be sick. I forgot what JD does to me. I double over and fall to my knees again. I can see the world go dark. I fade in and out. Shit! I need to stop this and I fall to my side. Passed out.

**Christian's POV**

It's eerily quiet out in the room. I walk back and I see Chanelle on the floor. Passed out. Not breathing! Fuck! I dial the front desk and tell them to call the ambulance. I shouldn't have made a scene with her. I knew she was fragile. I led her to drink a lot and now this is where she is. _Way to go Grey! You are making this girl's life even more of a living hell than it already is! _I shake my head and I drop to my knees. I grab her hands and kiss the back of them.

"Stay with me Chanelle. Please don't leave me. I am so sorry! I knew I should have trusted you." I'm resisting the urge to shake her. There was knock on the door and the medics rush in to check her. For once in my life i'm scared. What's wrong with this beautiful angel? The medics ask me what happened and the one medic recognized her. She silently shook her head. "Not again." She whispered.

"What's wrong with her?" I ask in a panic.

"Mr. Grey she has alcohol poisoning. We must take her to the hospital immediately." They place her on the stretcher and run out of the room. I grab my jacket and followed them. We reach the first floor and I see Kellie standing there with her mouth wide open. She takes off her apron and runs with the medics.

"What did you do Christian?" Kellie says with concern and a hint of anger.

"We got into an argument and it led her to drink. She has alcohol poisoning." Kellie's face goes pale.

"Fuck! It happened again! I'll ride in the back of the ambulance. They are more than likely going to take her to Lenox Hill because that's where her aunt works." Kellie yells to me. I hop in the back of the car and told the driver to follow the ambulance. How can I be so dumb. I rest my head on the window and began to think.

**Chanelle's POV**

My vision is blurred and my head hurts. I feel like I was ran over by a tractor trailer. I look around and I notice where I am. I see Kellie sitting next to me and Christian looking out the window.

"Can someone explain to me why on God's green earth am I laying in Lenox Hill Hospital right now?" I spit out.

"I think someone wants to apologize." Kellie said. She smiled and walked out of the room.

"Christian. What the hell happened?" I asked softly. He let's out a sigh and runs his fingers through his hair.

"We got into an argument, you got mad at me and stormed off to the room, took a bath and virtually drank yourself into a coma. Chanelle, you had alcohol poisoning." My eyes go wide and I begin to cry.

"Not again." I whisper. I try to stifle my sob but I couldn't. Christian ran over to me and held me.

"Everything will be ok Chanelle. This happened before?" I nodded my head yes.

"After the whole thing with Gideon, I was broken. I took a leave of absence from my job and I went on bender. There was no point in my day where I was sober. I drank from sun up till sun down. I almost destroyed Sammy's apartment at one point. I got alcohol poisoning and was in the hospital for a couple of days because not only did it affect my asthma, I was severely dehydrated. I was placed in rehab for about a month after getting out of the hospital. I learned to control my urges to drink but I drink when I'm in stressful situations." I wiped my face and turned away from Christian. "I'm an embarrassment to you, my friends and my family. Maybe coming back here was a bad call." I begin to silently cry and the bed sunk in a little.

"You are not an embarrassment to me or anyone else Chanelle. You have no idea how worried we are about you especially since we are on Gideon's turf. Anything can happen." He rubs my back and kisses my neck. I begin to relax a little and let out a sigh.

"I am so sorry Christian. I don't know what the hell I was thinking. I thought that if I could get through to Eva, I could somehow get Gideon off my back for once." I tried to sit up but my body wasn't allowing me to. I'm sore as hell. "So you were Eva's employer once?" I say trying to change the subject.

"I wasn't really proud of those days. She worked as one of my assistants. She was a hard worker but she never respected me. I don't know why but she had said that all I do is use woman." Christian shook his head as if it was a sour memory.

"She is a firecracker. We were friends until she went behind my back and started dating Gideon." I said as I rolled my eyes but I shouldn't have done that. I am incredibly dizzy and I almost passed out again but I caught myself and began to breathe in and out slowly.

"Some friend. Isn't that an unwritten rule? Thou shall not date idiot asshole ex boyfriends or bitchy girlfriends." Christian said. I began to laugh because he made it funny. "Chanelle?"

"Yes?"

"Promise me that you will limit your drinking? I want this to last. Even though I have know you only all of a week and a half, I would like to keep you around." Christian said with a quiet voice.

"After this, I can honestly say that this was my wake up call." I said with my eyes closed. The door to my room opens.

"Seriously Chanelle! When are you going to stop doing this to..." My aunt Claudia is silly. She took a peek at Christian and she was floored. "Hello! I'm Chanelle's aunt Claudia." Christian smiled and shook her hand.

"Christian Grey. Nice to meet you." Claudia looked into his eyes lovingly.

"Ummmmm...Claudia Jean Howard. I'm over here and he is taken!" I snapped my fingers and she shook her head. She looked at me and I shook my head. "Geez you did this when I brought He Who Shall Not Be Mentioned home."

"Well, he was gorgeous until that issue happened! Now I want to punch him in the face until it's completely rearranged." Christian gets wide eyed and I begin to laugh.

"You're in the clear for now. I had my doubts about you when you first walked in here and you told my staff what happened to Chanelle." Claudia begins to eye him up and down then she walked over to me. "Ok Chanelle. Are you feeling sore?"

"Yes. It hurts a lot and i'm thirsty. Go rectify this problem Aunt Claudia. Now!" I say jokingly. She gives me a stern look and I stop laughing. She begins to laugh. It works every time.

"I will get you your Cranberry juice and sprite hold your horses. I have to check your vitals. My darling brother wants you out of the hospital today." SHIT!

"Dad knows? Damnit! I'm fucked!" I say silently.

"Watch your language. You may be a young lady but I am still your elder!" I held my hand over my mouth. "Actually he is on his way now." I look at Christian and signal for him to leave while he can. Christian speeds toward the door and I hear him stop.

"Where do you think you're going? Get back in there!" Fuuuuuuuuuuck! Papa Bear is here.

"Yes sir!" Christian walks slowly back into the room and followed behind him is my dad.

"Hi daddy!" I say sweet like. He scowls at me and I sink into the sheets.

"Are you going on benders again Chanelle? What have I told you about excessive drinking?" He turns and begins to scowl at Christian. "And you! If you EVER yell at my daughter again, I will have your head mounted on my office wall. You got that?" My dad is really scary when he is angry. I tried to save Christian but he was a little too late. "What is this I hear you went to lunch with Eva?" I had to tell him the truth.

"I wanted her to know what her current boyfriend was doing. Gideon never gets shit through his head with me. Maybe she could do something." I said. My dad has ways of making you feel very small with just his soft words.

"Chanelle, Eva is a basket case too!" Not this argument again.

"SHE WAS RAPED BY HER STEP BROTHER DAD! HOW DOES THAT MAKE HER A BASKET CASE! Geez way to be sensitive." I said with a roll of my eyes. My dad knows how to push people's buttons.

"I...I didn't know that. Oh geez I feel horrible now." My dad turned away and Christian walked up to him and places a hand on his shoulder.

"Dad. It's ok! I was stupid for going up to her." I said while lowering my head. I knew coming here was going to be a problem. Now everyone I know and love is mad at me. "I just want to be by myself right now. Can you guys please leave?" A single tear falls down my face and Christian walks up to me and wipes my tear away.

"Talk to us Chanelle. What's on your mind?" Christian said. I look up at him and all of a sudden I hear yelling.

"YOU SHOULDN'T BE HERE! YOU NEED TO FUCKING LEAVE!" My dad yells out. Who the hell is he talking to?

"Well! Pleasure to see you again Mr. Howard. How's your wife?" I find the strength to get out of my bed because I know that voice.

"Chanelle you need your rest." Christian says while holding me.

"No! He needs to leave!" I say. Christian holds on to me as I look up and see Gideon with a half smile on his face.

"Gideon you need to leave. NOW!" I say through clenched teeth.

"Now why would I want to do that? After Christian yelled at you to get in the car, I knew for sure you would drink yourself into a coma. I couldn't miss this." He says. I can feel Christian's hand tighten around mine.

"Gideon! I am so sick of you. I guess I need to beat your ass with my bat again to make you understand what 'stay away from my daughter' really means." My dad gets in his face. Gideon and my dad are nose to nose and i'm too weak to actually stop the fight.

"ENOUGH GIDEON! GET THE HELL OUT OF MY ROOM AND LEAVE ME THE HELL ALONE! I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF YOUR SHIT!" He starts to let out this maniacal laugh.

"Oh Chanelle. You are absolutely irresistible when you are angry." Christian let my hand go and ran up to Gideon before you know it, Gideon was pinned up against the wall.

"You listen here asswipe! She is done with you and right now you are 5 seconds away from getting your head ripped off. I suggest you walk out this door and don't look back." Christian let him go and he fixed himself.

"This isn't over Chanelle. Not by a long shot. You do well to remember that." Gideon says as he walks out of the room. Claudia looked around the room and she instantly knew she needed to break the tension in the room.

"Good news! Chanelle you can leave today. Just try to take it easy for the rest of the day." She said and I continued to look out the window. She took my dad out in the hallway leaving only Christian and I in the room.

"This is becoming annoying." I say through gritted teeth.

"I know. I have arranged something for you but that would require us to be in New York for another couple of days." He said. I rolled my eyes. Quite frankly, i'm ready to go back to Seattle.

"What is it?" I ask. Christian smiled and put a finger to his lips.

"You need to go shopping and we need to make sure you are prepared for this." He said.

Later in the afternoon, I was discharged from the hospital. I was excited to get back to the hotel because I could use a long, hot bath. Christian carried me from the car to the room. He is such a gentleman sometimes. He places me on the bed and I lay back for a minute. I hear the water running in our tub and the fragrance of lavender and vanilla filled the hotel room. I instantly relax and begin to sigh. Christian comes in the room, undresses me, picks me up and places me in the tub full of hot water. My body fully began to relax. I look up and I see Christian undressing and I just stare.

"You know if you take a picture it would last longer." He said with a half smile. I blink to break out of my thoughts and smiled. He gestures for me to move up and he slides in with me. I slide back his front to my back. I don't stiffen. This is a sign of good things to come. He pours water into my hair and watches as the strands of my hair become wet and begin to curl. "Your hair is amazing. Forgive me but I thought when water hits a black girls hair it becomes this large afro." I begin to laugh loudly.

"I'm mixed. My hair curls up when it gets wet. That's why it's always in a bun after I get out of the shower." I smile. "Do you like it?"

"I like everything about you. So, since you like singing so much, could you sing for me. It can be some tween pop song if you wish." He said. I smile because I know just the song. I breathe in the scent of vanilla, lavender and Christian.

"_No puedo pedir que el invierno perdone a un rosal  
No puedo pedir a los olmos que entreguen peras  
No puedo pedirle lo eterno a un simple mortal  
Y andar arrojando a los cerdos miles de perlas"_

He begins to smile and rubs my hair. I've always wanted to sing a spanish song to someone. He leans downs and kiss my hair. "Spanish. Your language choice?" He ask with a smile as I finished the song.

"Yeah. I can speak certain phrases right now but I want to become fluent in spanish." I look at my hands. Christian runs his hands along my back.

"I hope you have it in you to sing tomorrow night." He said in a whisper. I turn around and look at him crossed.

"Christian...I...I don't know if I can."

"Sure you can and besides there is more to it then you think." He says and I look away. "Tell me you will do it." I look in his eyes and I sigh in defeat.

"Sure. Christian?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks. I'm a train wreck of a person and you haven't ran for the hills yet. I respect that." I say with a smile. He smiles back and hugs me.

"If you are a train wreck of a person then I must be a natural disaster." I laugh and get out of the tub. I dry off and put on my short nightdress with a matching robe and throw my hair into a bun. I walk out to grab a glass of sparkling water and I noticed Christian's phone sitting on the table. I pick it up and go to the camera app. I start taking photos of myself and i'm interrupted by an incoming text. The number is unknown. I go to hide it but I accidentally open it.

_Christian_

_How are you dear. I haven't heard from you in awhile._

_I miss your not busy come and see me._

_-E.L_

WHAT THE FUCK?! Is he cheating on someone to be with me? Fuck! I don't like being in these situations.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Why not put up 2 chapters. Enjoy **

**Christian's POV**

I get out of the tub and wrap a towel around my waist. I walk into the room and dry off and put on my pajamas. All of a sudden, I see the door swing open and Chanelle fly into the room.

"Well don't you look irresistible this evening." I say trying to lighten her mood but she shoots me a ice cold look. "What's wrong with you?" She puts on her shirt and a pair of jeans and then toss my phone on the bed.

"I don't know. Ask E.L. I'm sure she can help you figure that out. I'm headed to Kellie's." She spits out. Fuck! Elena finds ways to ruin anything good in my life. I'm pissed off and I'm about to lose Chanelle again.

"Chanelle...wait! I can explain." I run to her and grab her waist. She gets out of my arms and punches me in the arm.

"How could you Christian?! I thought this would work between us but clearly I was wrong. I don't know why I decided to date another suit!" She said. That hurt me and I know I deserved it. I wrap my arms around and she began to cry. I ran my fingers through her hair trying to calm her down. She sinks to her knees and I fall with her.

"Shh. I'm so sorry Chanelle. Please don't leave me. I can explain everything." Still holding her in my arms she went limp. I looked down and she cried herself to sleep. I pick her up and laid her on the bed. I took of her pants and shirt and pulled the covers back. I picked her up and slid her warm body into the covers. Once I pulled the sheets back up, I gave her a kiss and grabbed my phone. I looked back at her and flip the light switch off and closed the room door. I walk into the living room and dial Elena.

**Chanelle's POV**

"I TOLD YOU TO LEAVE ME ALONE ELENA! DON'T CONTACT ME UNLESS IT IS BUSINESS RELATED!" I heard Christian yelling but I thought I was dreaming. I reach my arm to his side of the bed and it's cold. "I DON'T CARE IF YOU MISS ME! YOU ARE TO NEVER CONTACT ME UNLESS IT'S BUSINESS RELATED! THAT PART OF MY LIFE IS OVER!" I am definitely not dreaming. Who is Elena and why is he screaming at her? I wonder if one of the girls would know. I found my phone in the pocket of my jeans and dialed Kellie.

"Hey Nelly!" She said.

"Hey! You followed Christian's life. Who is Elena?" I asked. She let out a small gasp. "Umm...i'll take that as a bad sign."

"Chanelle, you need to stay far away from her. According to the tabloids, that was Christian's "dominatrix." I don't know how much of it is true but that's what it said. Why are you asking?" Kellie has always been a curious one.

"I was going into the kitchen to get something to drink and he got a text from E.L saying she missed him." I say softly. I hear Christian yell again.

"ELENA! ENOUGH! I DON'T CARE ABOUT HOW MUCH YOU MISS ME! I AM SPOKEN FOR NOW AND NO YOU CAN'T MEET HER! GOOD NIGHT ELENA!"

"Did you hear that?" I ask

"Yeah. That man has a temper out of this world. I think he makes Jules look tamed." We both laugh and I hear him coming toward the room.

"Shit! I gotta go Kells. Christian is coming back." I say trying to rush off the phone.

"Ok! Remember! Stay away from her. She is bad news Nelly." She warns me again.

"Ok. Love you! Bye!" I hang the phone up and look up. I see Christian walk in and start rummaging through his bag. Time to break the tension in the room. "Hey." I say with a soft voice. He turns around and gives me a smile and begins to walk toward me.

"Hey! How are you feeling?" He ask me while pressing a light kiss on my forehead.

"Better. Look. I'm sorry for flipping out on you like that. I didn't mean to. I've had so many bad things happen to me in the last few years...I...I just don't want them to happen again." I say as I lay back down on the bed. Christian crawls in next to me and runs his fingers through my hair.

"I know Chanelle. I should have come to you about her." He says while breathing in my scent. I let out a small sigh and stare at the ceiling. "So rumor has it you know how to work a sniper rifle." I begin to smile. That lesson with Jules was fun.

"It's true. Jules was an Army sergeant and she wanted her friends to be safe so she showed us how to fight and how to use guns properly if we wanted to learn and own one. I have always been a fan of the sniper rifle. It gets the job done quiet and fast." I look and see Christian's face. He is cringing at the fact I use a sniper rifle. "So by your facial expression, I am going to take you are very anti-gun." He nods and I shake my head.

"What? I never liked guns." He said with a low voice.

"I didn't say anything. I don't go around carrying guns on me. I use it only in extreme situations. For example. In Pennsylvania, if someone breaks into your house and tries to escape, you have up until the end of your block to do something. The night Jules bought me a sniper rifle with a sound suppressor, my house got rob and the person who rob our house was dumb enough to stand in the back of our house waiting for his ride to come back around. I sniped him and flatten the tires of the escape vehicle. The cops came 3 minutes after that and arrested the guys who robbed my house." Christian looks mortified and I began to snicker.

"You didn't kill the guy?" He asked quietly.

"No! I wanted to because he took my Xbox and my computer. I shot him right in the back of his knee." I said. "Not my proudest moment but I will do anything to protect my family and my expensive belongings." I said while still staring at the ceiling. Christian pulls me close and kisses my hair.

"So where is your sniper rifle now?" He asked.

"In a very unique hiding spot in my house in Seattle." He jumps up and looks at me. I get up and look at him. "What?" He grabs his phone and begins to dial Taylor.

"Chanelle, I need to know exactly where that spot is." I thought he was going nuts and the night that Gideon broke into my house dawned on me. "OH FUCK!" I shouted. Oh for Buddha's sake please tell me my gun is still there.

**Christian's POV**

I dialed Taylor and waited for him to pick up.

"Yes sir?"

"Taylor! I need you to go to Chanelle's house and look for a particular item." I say in a panic.

"Yes sir! What am I looking for?" he ask.

"A sniper rifle." Taylor goes quiet and he sighs.

"That was already handled when we surveyed the damage to Ms. Howard's house. It seems that Mr. Cross found it and forgot to take it with him that day. We have it locked up in the security room with the extra ammo as well." I let out a sigh of relief.

"Good! Thank you Taylor!" I tell him

"No problem sir and if you can tell Chanelle that Sawyer and I are quite impressed with it." I may be anti-gun but I smile because Chanelle has my staff wrapped around her fingers now.

"I will tell her. Good night Taylor." I hang up and I see Chanelle pacing slowly.

"Well, it was handled. Taylor and Sawyer spotted it the day Gideon broke into your house. It is back at Escala and they are apparently impressed with the rifle you own." I say as I purse my lips. She begins to giggle.

"Well, I'm glad they are impressed. I only take it to the gun range really. Haven't really had a reason to use it so, if you think I'm going to use it willy nilly then you are mistaken." She says as she kisses my forehead. "I'm sleepy, so if you don't mind I would like to go to sleep."

I laugh a little and lay down beside her. "Chanelle?" I say in a whisper.

"Hmmm?" She says all so sleepy like. I pause and let out a sigh. I listen to her breathe and she is out cold and snoring lightly. The way she sleeps brings a smile to my face. I kiss her hair and pull her closer.

"I think I am truly falling for you." I whisper and fall asleep.


	11. Chapter 11 (A memorial chapter)

**A/N: Happy Holidays everyone. This is more of a filler chapter but the main purpose of this chapter is that my aunt Marie passed in the tragedy on 9/11. Her birthday is coming up and she always liked my writing. So this chapter is dedicated to her. I had a hard time trying to type this but it's comforting to know that I can add her in my story. Enjoy**

**R.I.P Marie **

**Ciao Bella**

**Chanelle's POV**

The next morning, I stretch out toward Christian's side of the bed and it's cold. I sit up and look around the room and I see Christian sitting outside. Wait! We have a balcony?! Damnit! I get up and pull on my sweats and a hoodie and walk outside. "Hello Mr. Grey." I say while stretching. He looks up and smiles.

"Ms. Howard. How lovely for you to join me." He says while gesturing me to sit down in the wrought iron chair across from him. I take a seat and I pull my hands into my hoodie. "I have tea in your tumbler. Kellie told me you like Tazo Passion tea with a little vanilla cream." I look at the tumbler and instantly got excited. He hands me my Hello Kitty tumbler and I taste the tea. It's still hot and it's...perfect. I'm shocked that Kellie even found this tumbler. I couldn't find this at all. "Kellie made it. I went downstairs and she was getting ready to clock on and she thought you might want it." I smile and move the chair next to him.

"Thanks Christian. I really appreciate it. I am shocked Kellie found this. I couldn't find this when I went back to Philadelphia. So you choose to sit out on the balcony. I didn't know we had one." I say while taking another sip of the tea.

"I wanted to surprise you with it." He says with a smile. I look around and noticed that we had a pretty sick view of Central Park. I begin to hang my head low and Christian catches on. "Are you okay?" He says rubbing one hand on my cheek. I welcome his soft touch to my face and he feels a tear roll down. He wipes it away and runs thumb along my cheek. "Talk to me."

"Well, this is all a bit overwhelming. I mean I'm with you. The most powerful and richest man in all of the United States and I'm in a city the houses another powerful and rich man. Then there is the fact that..." I feel the lump in my throat form and I'm trying to choke back a sob but I can't. I begin to cry and Christian pulls me on his lap. "Christian. It's a bit hard for me to be in New York because I lost a family member here." He goes wide eyed because he knows exactly what I'm talking about. He hugs me tightly and I begin to let it all out. "I come here to see her name engraved. It brings me peace even though it still hurts to know that she is gone." He nods and picks me up and takes me back to the room.

"You need to get dressed. We are going out for a bit." He says as he pulls over a black long sleeve turtleneck sweater. I nod and I brush my hair into a ponytail and threw on a pair of black flare jeans and a pink and blue sweater. I look at the time and it is nearly 11. We make our way downstairs and I see Kellie. I give her a wave and she smiles back. I mouthed 'Thank You' to her and she mouthed back 'no problem' and smiled. We hop in back of the SUV and we pull off in New York traffic. I look out of the window and watch the buildings zoom by. Suddenly, the neighborhood becomes familiar. I look out of the front of the car and I noticed that we are nearing the site. I look at Christian and he gives me an apologetic smile. "Kellie said that this was a tradition of yours and I was hoping you could introduce me to her even though she isn't here physically. I sighed and laid in his arms. We stop and the driver lets me out. I put my hands in my pocket and waited for Christian to walk next to me.

"Christian. If I become a blubbering mess, promise me that you will take me away from here." I asked. He holds my waist from behind and kisses my neck.

"This is apart of the healing process Chanelle but if it becomes too much, we will leave." He said. I nodded and made my way forward. I know where her name is and I walk towards it.

"Here she is." I say trying not to cry. Christian looks at the name and hugs me. I always look like a crazy person. I talk to her name and tell her how I'm doing." I said with a little chuckle. He hugs me closer and rubs my arm up and down.

"Marie. What a lovely name." He says as he kisses my temple. I nod in agreement and begin to talk to her.

"Hey Aunt Marie. It's your ever gorgeous niece Chanelle. I brought a friend with me well...more like my boyfriend and you always said to me that when I become of age to have a boyfriend that he needed to be gorgeous and nice and kind. Well Aunt Marie, this is Christian Grey. He is my boss's partner with the company I work for but I think you knew that already. We all miss you so much but we know you are always around! I hope everyone is having one of your famous cheesecake pies in heaven. I love you Aunt Marie. Ciao Bella." I finally break and cry in Christian's arms.

"Come on Chanelle. Let's go back to the hotel and describe what's going on for today." He says. I kiss my hand and hover it over her name and walk away. I climb in the back of the SUV and I blew her one more kiss as the door closed.


	12. Chapter 12

**_FLASHBACK_**

_Moving to New York for the summer was probably the best idea I have ever thought of. I could use another scene to adjust to. I get to Penn Station and I see Sam standing there with a big "Welcome To NYC Nelly" all decked out in glitter and streamers. I smile and run to her._

"_You sure know how to make a big deal out of nothing." I say with a hearty chuckle. She hugs me tightly and begins to laugh._

"_Of course! One of my besties has decided to move in with me for a while and besides that whole family arguing thing doesn't agree with you." She says as she grabs my other luggage bag. We walk up to her car and we begin to drive._

"_So what is there to do in NYC?" I ask oblivious to what actually goes on in this city. The only memory I have of this city is that tragic day and I don't want to think about that while I am here. Sam laughs at me._

"_You're kidding? What isn't there to do in this city? First, we need to get you a job. How do you feel about being a bank teller?" She asked._

"_I wouldn't mind it. Money is money in my opinion." I said with a snicker. We reach her apartment which is located in the Tribeca section of the city or so I thought. I never really cared because the scene was just so peaceful. We walked up to the elevator and climbed in. She hit the 12__th__ floor and we began to go up. "I already love it here." I say. She smiled and reached her floor. She opens the door and I am floored by the amount of space she has._

"_Welcome home Chanelle!" I'm in shock. She has to share this apartment with other people but come to find out her last roommate was a complete bitch to her and had to throw her out. So, I guess that argument came at the right time then._

"_Thanks! This apartment is amazing Sam!" Sam smiled as she walked into the kitchen. She grabbed two champagne flutes and filled them with champagne._

"_Here's to us. Long nights, early mornings and classy times that await us in the near foreseeable future." We clink glasses and chugged down the sweet liquid. She showed me to my room and it was huge! Shit! What am I going to do with all of this space? I have time to plan it out._

"_Well now that I am here, I need a gym badly." I say while laughing. Sam was all to excited to take me to her gym. _

"_It's a bit pricey but I'm sure your dad gave wired you money for bills and stuff. Let's go!" She said as she grab my hand and we ran out of the door. After about 25 minutes in traffic we've arrived to this magnificent building. This is a gym?! This looks more like an office building. She parked her car and we head to the front door. I look around and I'm flabbergasted._

"_Dude! The gyms in Philadelphia have nothing on this gym. This makes my gym look like a small home gym." Sam broke out in a loud laughter._

"_I said the same thing when I first joined. Let's get you to member services." We walk over to a desk and we saw this cute guy. Apparently, Sam has been crushing on him from day one but doesn't know how to approach him. _

"_Hey Sam! You are due for another session soon. Do you want to schedule it now?" Sam is off in her own little world. She responds with a girlish nod and like that she was scheduled. "And who is this?" He said._

"_Oh! This is my new roomie Chanelle. Chanelle this is my personal trainer Mike." I hold my hand out for him to shake and he kiss the back of my hand._

"_Welcome to CrossTrainer! Any friend of Sam's is a friend of mine. Are you looking to join?" He asked. I nod my head and he smiles. "Great! Let me get you set up with a membership pass and some other things. Here is a duffel bag full of goodies and your pass for a free smoothie from the smoothie bar downstairs. Hopefully we see you soon." I smiled and walked away._

_3 Weeks Later..._

_I have been working at Citi Bank for two weeks now and I absolutely love it. The day is almost over and my drawer has been counted and as always it was correct. I decided to go to the gym and Sam choose to go with me since her session with Mike was the same day. I walk outside and I see Sam sitting on the hood of her car waiting for me._

"_Hey Nelly! Ready to go?" She asked._

"_Yup! Let's go!" I said as we both got into the car and drove off. About 10 minutes later we arrived to the gym and parked in the garage across the street. We finally made it to the gym and signed in. Mike was waiting for Sam. _

"_Hey guys! Sam are you ready?" She nodded and she winked at me. I went to go change into my workout clothes and decided on cardio today. I warm up with a quick walk so I could set up my iPod for running. I decided to put on 'Right Round' by Flo Rida and I begin to take off in a light jog. I decided to watch the news because if I watch TV while running the time goes by faster. After about 15 minutes of running, a wonderful, spicy, musky smell hit my nose to the point were I had to slow down and step on the sides of the treadmill. I turned to my left and I didn't see anybody next to me. I turned to my right and was nearly knocked off my feet. I began to blush and started to blush a little. I kept running and I looked over at him only to notice he was looking at me and he smiled. I paused the treadmill to catch my breath._

"_You know, with a smile like that, you could possibly injure someone while they are running on a treadmill." I said wiping the sweat off of my forehead. He chuckled a bit and paused his treadmill._

"_I'm sorry. I didn't mean to throw you off. You are just gorgeous. I couldn't help but to smile. Gideon Cross." He says as he holds out his hand for me to shake._

"_Chanelle Howard-Jones. Nice to meet you." I said. He looks at my face and begins to laugh._

"_I see you are a bit attracted to me." He says. He is really arrogant in a hot way._

"_Oh really? What makes you think that?" I say crossing my arms._

"_It's in your face. So you must be new around here. I haven't seen you here before." I want to tell him to mind his damn business but the words can't seem to form themselves._

"_I just moved here three weeks ago. I'm staying with a friend." I walk off the treadmill to take a sip of water at the fountain. I go to walk away and I run into a hard body. I look up and it's Gideon holding me up. I love the way his muscles feel and his eyes are icy blue. The type of blue that can hypnotize any female and stop them dead in their tracks. "Oh my goodness. I am so sorry. I am such a klutz." I push away from him and stood up on my own feet._

"_It's ok. I couldn't see you get hurt. Actually, I'm wondering if you would like to accompany me to dinner some time. Let's say tomorrow around 7pm. Think about it. Here's my card and on the back is my cell phone number. Call me." He says as he walks off and my brain is stuck on stupid! I feel a hand on my shoulders._

"_Chanelle! I've been calling you for the past five minutes. Are you ready to go?" I'm still staring into space. My God was he hot or what. "CHANELLE?!" She yells out._

"_Huh? Oh! Sorry! What was your question again?" I say._

"_Are you ready to go?" Sam asked._

"_Yeah! Let's go!" We walk toward the front door and I look back to see him talking to Mike. Our eyes lock on to each other and he winks at me. Oh he is too much! _


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: These next couple of chapters will be of how Chanelle and Gideon's relationship played out. Enjoy**

_The next day, I wanted to go get a car. Sammy and I are both off from work and decided to take a trip to New Jersey to get me a vehicle._

"_Sammy! Are you ready?" I yell out from the living room. I'm finally getting a car and I need Sammy to help me make a decision although I'm almost certain that I know I want a Volkswagen._

"_Sorry about that! I lost my other shoe." We both laugh as we walked out of the door. "So, tell me about the hottie at the gym. You were in your own little world last night. He must of put a huge spell on you." I smiled and felt my face heat up at the thought of Gideon. _

"_Well, of course I had to do my research and apparently he owns a business, one of the worlds richest eligible bachelors and he..." The elevator doors open and my mouth drops open. Gideon is standing in the elevator wearing a silver 3 piece suit with aviator shades on. My breathing quickens and I begin to fan myself. "He is here. In our apartment building." I say breathlessly._

"_Pardon my intrusion ladies. Good afternoon Chanelle." He says in a low tone. I look over to Sammy and she mouthed 'Oh My Heavens!' to me. I tried to stifle my laughter. _

"_You know, I will meet you in the car Chanelle." Sammy says as she steps in the elevator and Gideon steps off._

"_I won't keep her long. I promise." He tells her with a smile as the elevator doors close. I'm beginning to sweat and this has got to be the most embarrassing thing ever. "How are you Chanelle?" He asked._

"_I'm...how did you...how are you here right now?" I stumbled to say. He begins to laugh and stalk toward me. I walk backwards and finally my back meets the wall. I feel trapped. I don't know what to do._

"_I own this building along with several others in the city. Chanelle, you are incredibly beautiful. For some reason, I can't stop thinking about you. Please tell me you will join me for dinner?" He asked. Both of his hands are beside my head and he is really close. I can feel every part of his body. I want to jump on him and kiss him but I'm trying my hardest not to._

"_Gideon...I...Fuck it!" I said as I pull his lips toward mine. I kiss him and it's rough yet passionate. I pulled away at the revelation that I just kissed him. I slid down the wall angry at myself for what I did. I managed to get away and press the down button for the elevator. The doors open and I stand in the corner. Gideon follows me in and presses the lobby button. I can't believe I did that. I'm so stupid! Suddenly the elevator slows to a stop. I turn to see what was going on and we were in between floors. I look at Gideon and he is smiling. I walk away from the corner toward the door. He picks me up and slams me into the other corner and begins to kiss me. This is hot. I run my fingers through his hair and deepen the kiss._

"_Oh fuck Chanelle! I've been thinking about this for the last 12 hours." He says as he puts me down and kisses my neck. I have to gain control of this._

"_Gideon..." I say in between breaths. He cups one of my breast and I know I really have to stop this. "I …..not here! Not now!" He smiles and pull out the key in the console and the elevator moves again. I fix my clothes and my hair so Sammy doesn't get the wrong idea._

"_So how about that dinner tonight?" He asked as we got to the first floor. The doors open and Sammy is standing there. _

"_Yes! I would love that." I say with a huge grin on my face. Sammy raises an eyebrow and gives me a look. I can't tell if it's anger or she is happy I finally moved on to someone that isn't a total douche._

"_Great! I'll see you at 7 then." he says and like that he is off. Sammy and I follow him out and our jaws drop. We saw an older gentleman open the door to a Bentley and Gideon climbs in. Gideon looks up and see our faces and smiles as the door closes._

"_Dude! He owns a freaking Bentley!" Sammy exclaims. He pulls off and I'm still stuck. "Come on Chanelle." She pulls me toward her car and we head off to grab me a car._

_Later that night, I get dressed and wait for Gideon's call. Sammy did my hair and make up. I look like a doll. I chose to wear a black one shoulder dress with rhinestones going around and a pair of nude and black pumps. My phone rings and it's Gideon. _

"_I'm here sweetheart." He says. His voice is really silky over the phone._

"_Ok. I'm on my way now." I hit the end button and put my phone in my clutch and walked out of the door. I make my way down to the first floor and I see Gideon standing in the lobby._

"_You look absolutely stunning this evening." He says as he takes my hand a places a gentle kiss on it._

"_Thank you. You look quiet dapper yourself." I say with a smile. He places his hand on my lower back and guide me to the Bentley. His driver opens the door for us and I slide in. He climbs in after me then a few minutes later we drive off. I separate myself from Gideon because of today's earlier events._

"_I know why you are putting space between us. You are nervous and I can understand that." He says. He slides me over to him and pulls me close. His smell. So intoxicating. I can feel the urge to kiss him again and I try to suppress it. Thankfully it worked. "You smell lovely. Dolce and Gabana no.3?" He asked. I'm getting creeped out by how much he knows about me._

"_Yeah. How did you know?" I asked in confusion._

"_My secretary wears it all the time. It smells lovely on you." He says. I look up and smile and then quickly looked away. He turns my head around and kisses me but it wasn't as rough as earlier. It was soft and caring. I immediately fall into his spell. He breaks the kiss taking my wits with him. "We are here." The door opens and I notice we are at a hotel._

"_Wow! This is a gorgeous hotel. Are we eating here?" I asked. He nodded and gave me his elbow to wrap my arm around. We walk in and he tells the front desk he was using the suite. We go up to the suite and I marvel at the largeness. "Wow! Gideon this is beautiful." I said as he comes up behind me and hands me a glass of white wine. I take a sip of it and start to relax. My nerves have been all over the place since that kiss earlier!_

"_Penny for your thoughts?" He asked. I blink and turn around._

"_Sorry! I've been scatterbrain Jane all day. Nerves are a bit shot." I say with a little chuckle. He takes my glass and sits it on the counter. I walk over to the bed and have a seat. He sits next to me and begins running his hands up and down the inner part of my thigh. My breathing picks up a lot. He rolls me over to the point I'm straddling him. I go in for the kill. This opportunity is too much to pass up. I kiss him and begin to grind on his growing erection._

"_You waste no time do you?" He asked. I smile and took my hair down from the style it was in._

"_No time like the present." I said as I go to work on the buttons of his shirt. He picks me up lays me on the bed. He takes my shoes off achingly slow. _

"_I love your legs. So long. So soft. So kissable." He kiss his way up my leg reaching my mound. I shiver as he brushes pass it. "Oh! You like that didn't you?" He says as he moves his finger slowly up and down there. He pulls my panties aside and shoves a finger inside._

"_Gideon..." I say softly leaning my head back. He smiles and slips another finger in. "Oh damnit!" What am I doing? He begins to move faster and I begin to pant. "Gideon...I'm going to come." He moves faster and as I can see my world spiraling, he stops and walks away. That bastard! I lay there and pick up my thoughts. He comes back and he is naked. Fuck! He looks like a Greek God and has the package to match and he wrapped it up._

"_Where was I? Oh that's right. You were telling me you are about to come." He picks me up and slides me on his throbbing cock. I lean my head back and try to grasp the fact that one-I am having sex on my first date (big no no) and two-that I am filled to capacity with Gideon. He bounces me up and down and I can feel myself reaching the edge. "That's right tighten it for me. Come all over me" he said softly into my ear. Like that we both climax and fall to the bed. We lay there and I look at the ceiling. _

"_Dinner is here Chanelle." Gideon said to me while brushing my hair out of my face. I don't want to move. I want to stay here and relish this moment. In ways I feel like a whore but damnit that was the best first date sex I have ever had. I noticed a drawer was open and a familiar package was sticking up. I walk to it and noticed there was a drawer full of toys. My eyes got wide and I got angry. _

"_So, Gideon tell me. Were you planning on fucking me or is this double sided dildo a gift from the hotel?" I said angrily. Gideon sat up and his jaw dropped._

"_Chanelle. I can explain." He said softly._

"_No Gideon! Fuck you and the vagina you crawled out of." I threw the package at him and walked out of the room. I didn't want him to come after me so I flew down the steps and out the hotel doors. I flagged a cab and headed back home. I hope he is happy because he got ass. I will never do that again._


	14. Chapter 14

_I get back home and Sammy is still not here. I'm thankful she isn't because she would never let me forget this. I close the door behind me and walk to my room and into the bathroom. I start the shower and began to strip. I feel dirty and used like a cheap whore. I let the water cascade down on me and I begin to cry. I thought maybe he was the one for me. The one who would make me whole. I was willing to give him that chance and the fucker blew it! I turned off the shower and stepped out of the shower. A few minutes later I emerged to see Sam sitting on the couch with Gideon. I glared at her and then flipped him off and stormed back into my room and slammed the door then locked it. I hear foot steps heading toward me._

_KNOCK...KNOCK...KNOCK "Chanelle! Come on open the door! I can explain!" he says._

"_Fuck you Gideon!" I yell back._

"_Chanelle. You have a reason to be mad but I am pleading for you to give me a chance." He says as he slides down the door. I walk to the door and sat down by it._

"_Gideon, why do you have that suite? Is that some sort of fuck pad?" I ask with a hint of anger. He begins to let out a heavy sigh._

"_In ways yes but I really wanted us to have dinner there. The whole sex thing wasn't planned. You have to believe me Chanelle." I shake my head and run my hand through my now curly hair. I stand up and open my room door. He stands up and looks me in the eye then pulls me into his arms. For some odd reason my anger just melts away. I take in his scent and nuzzle my face into his chest. "You smell so good Chanelle." I smile and look up to him._

"_Thank you. It's called Citrus Mist." I walk him to the door and he plants a kiss on my forehead and walks away. I turn around to Sammy and she is staring. "What?" I ask_

"_I don't know about him Chanelle. He seems a bit off of his rocker." She says with concern._

"_I am keeping him at arms length for right now. I'm still not sure of him." _

"_Ok. Well, I'm going to bed and you should too seeing as though you have to go to work tomorrow morning." I smile and head to my room._

_The next morning, I'm sitting at my desk and my boss Henry Belfield comes up to me and hands me several envelops._

"_Hey Chanelle! Can you do me a huge favor and deliver these to the Crossfire building?" That name! Ugh! I'm only going to assume this is Gideon's building. I look at Henry with the 'Do I have to?' look. I don't want to see Gideon right now. "You can take the rest of the day off." He says with a smile. I grabbed my purse and walked out the door. I get into my 2005 Passat and enter the directions to Cross Tower. I look at the the envelope and I see who it's addressed to. _

_GIDEON CROSS_

_CEO CROSS INDUSTIRES _

"_Fuck me!" I whispered to myself. I don't want to see him and now I have to hand deliver a envelop to him. I pull up to the building and turn my car off. My emotions are running a bit high at the moment. I let out a big sigh, put on my aviator shades and walked out into the New York sun. I chose the wrong day to wear all black. I look up at the building and gasp. I sigh and walk to the security desk. "My name is Chanelle Howard-Jones. I'm here to deliver these to a Mr. Gideon Cross." The lady types something into the computer._

"_Actually he is expecting you. Here is a visitor's pass and you are going to take the elevator to the last floor." She says while scowling at me. Geez someone hates their job. I put my sunglasses back on and walk to the elevator. I'm fidgeting with the envelop. I'm nervous. I think I am falling for him. I roll my eyes at that last thought. The elevator stopped on the 19__th__ floor and the doors opened. I am looking pass the doors and then a familiar scent goes by my nose. I move to the corner without looking the doors close and I begin to notice that nobody is in this elevator but us. He walks over and puts a card in the panel and the elevator slows to a halt._

"_You look stunning today." He walks over and intakes the smell of my perfume. "and also wearing Chanel." He says. I roll my eyes while biting the inside of my cheek._

"_Mr. Cross please. Do you not know how to be professional?" I walk over to the panel and pulled the card out. The elevator moves and we arrive to the last floor. I walk out and he leads me to his office. Once inside, he frosted his office windows and gestured me to sit. "I was instructed by my boss to deliver these to you. I have no idea what it is nor do I care but I did it so I can leave work early." He smiled. He took the envelops and smiled again. _

"_Thank you Ms. Howard-Jones." He says as he makes his way around the desk. I get up and walked toward the door. He locks it and comes up behind me. "Please Chanelle! Give me one more chance. I know it was a shocker to see that and you have every right to be mad at me." He says as he kisses my neck. I move to the side and cross my arms._

"_Gideon I am not a toy. I am a human being. I will not be used for sex! Now if you will excuse me I need to get home and clean." I say. He unlocks the door to his office and I walk out. I hit the down button so I can get out of there quickly. He snakes his arm around my waist and I let out a sigh._

"_Chanelle come with me tonight. I'll pick you up after I leave from here." He is way too persistent and too sexy to turn down. Fuck! I was suppose to be strong._

"_Fuck Gideon! You don't quit do you? Fine! I'll go with you." I say as I storm in the elevator. The door closed and he smiled. I feel like I was hit by a armored car! _

_An hour later, I am back at the apartment. I brought some food for the apartment and I am hoping to make a special dinner for Sammy for letting me stay here. I am still in awe at how big this place is. I walk to my room and lay down listening to my iPod and 'Turning Tables' by Adele comes on. I stare at the ceiling. I begin to doze off when there was a knock on the door. "Come in!" I say loudly._

"_Hey babe!" Sammy is looking spiffy today. She wore this white with black pinstripe pantsuit with black and white pumps and her hair was bone straight._

"_Well! Don't you look dapper today! Where do you work again?" I ask her sitting up and pausing my iPod._

"_I work in the New York Stock Exchange remember?" She says with a laugh. I smile._

"_Oh yeah! I totally forgot. Sorry! What's up?" I ask as I stretch upwards. She gets up and takes off her jacket and sits on the bed. "Oh! Houndstooth! I love that pattern on you. Wait! That's my waistcoat! You sneaky little bitch!" She falls on the bed and burst in a giggle fit._

"_Yeah! Sorry forgot to ask you if I could borrow it but it's ok you love me still. Anyway, I saw that you went food shopping. Up for a little lunch?" I nod and we both head into the kitchen to eat. I begin to tell her about my day and how I had to drop things off to Gideon. She shook her head throughout most of the story. "Chanelle. Maybe you are over-reacting. You have B.O.B's yourself. I don't see what the issue is."_

"_The issue is, when I looked at it, it seemed like he planned this out. It felt like he already knew we were going to have sex. Granted I didn't want to but the way he looks and those eyes..." I drift off in thought. He is well endowed and the thought of him sliding it in made my muscles stiffen._

"_HELLO?! Earth to Chanelle?" Sam waves her hands in my face and I'm broken out of my reverie and my face turns red. "You were thinking about the other night weren't you? He must it laid it down pretty damn good." She laughs and I through a crumpled napkin at her. Suddenly, there was knock on our door. Sam went to answer it as I cleaned up._

"_Oh hey Gideon!" Sam says. I stiffen and I dropped my used wine glass on the floor. The shattering of the glass woke me up and I was deeply embarrassed._

"_FUCK!" I yelled. Sam and Gideon ran back into the kitchen to see what happened. I dropped to my knees and pick up the shattered glass._

"_Shit Chanelle are you ok?" Sam asked._

"_Yeah! I was clumsy. I'm sorry I broke your glass. I can get another one tomorrow." I say as I continue to pick up the glass. "OW! OH FUCK!" I yelled. A stray piece of glass was in my hand. I pulled it out and ran it under water. _

"_Doesn't look like you need stitches. Gideon, can you grab that old t-shirt sitting on top of the sofa and rip a piece of it off?" Sam asked. This has got to be the day from hell. I want to just curl up and go to sleep and hope that tomorrow is way better than today. Gideon comes back with the piece of t-shirt and wraps my hand tight._

"_Are you ok Chanelle?" He asked._

"_Yeah. I'm fine. I don't think I should go anywhere tonight." I ran into my room and he followed._

"_Chanelle. Talk to me. Please?" He pleaded as he shut the door. I fell on the bed and sighed heavily._

"_Gideon! I just meet you, we had amazing first date sex but I can't get over the fact that I feel like you planned that night out. I have only been around you two days and already I feel railroaded by your presence. I am having conflicting feelings about you and...and...Oh fuck it!" I pull him down on me and I cover his lips with mine. He flips me on my side and we kiss passionately. My hands are going through his sleek, black hair. We stop and look at each other. "Gideon, I think I am falling for you and I never fall for anyone." I belt out before thinking. His eyes go wide and rolls onto his back._

"_Funny, I was saying the same thing but I can't have you. I am way too fucked up for you. You have this innocence about you that I feel like it will be tarnished because of me." He throws an arm over his eyes. I curl into him and he looks at me. Even though I am still mad at him, for once I feel content._

"_Gideon. No matter how fucked up you are, you asked for a chance and I am giving it to you but at the same time, you need to give me a chance as well. If it doesn't work then we will deal with that when we cross that bridge." I say as I close my eyes. He kisses my forehead and falls asleep with me. I think afternoon naps with him may be the best things ever._


	15. Chapter 15

_Two weeks Later..._

_Gideon has let me in. It took sometime but I finally made my way in. It honestly feels weird to date the one thing that I made fun of while back in Philly. I lay across my bed reading a Stephen King novel when suddenly there was a knock on my bedroom door._

"_Come in!" I say loudly. The scent that filled my room was my favorite scent. A huge smile came across my face and I rolled over. "Well, if it isn't the billionaire playboy." I say with a smile._

"_Um. Excuse me! Former billionaire playboy. I am now the billionaire who is spoken for. I wanted to know if you would like me to accompany me to a charity dinner this evening?" I go wide eyed. I don't have anything to wear nor is my hair, nails and toes done and I'm not waxed! Damn you Gideon!_

"_Gideon...I don't..." He stops me from talking by placing his lips on mines. I love it when he does that._

"_Don't worry. I have something for you to wear but you can't see it until after your spa day with Sammy." I am speechless. A spa day? I always wanted a spa day but I was always too busy to go to the spa._

"_Gideon you are way too much right now. Thank you." I swung my arms around him and kissed his cheek. I walk him out of my room and into the living room near the door._

"_Now, I need to run out of here and pick up a few items for tonight. I will see you at 6:30." He says as he walks to my apartment door. _

"_Bye Gideon!" I kiss him one more time and shut the door. I let out a sigh and Sam is leaning in the door way of the living room._

"_You're swooning again Chanelle." Sam says with a huge grin._

"_I can't help it. The guy has my heart and he really knows how to treat me." I landed on the couch._

"_Chanelle, I still don't know about him. Just promise me you will keep an eye out on yourself." Sammy says with concern. I know she has an eerie feeling about him. I can't say that I don't blame her though. She was there for my very first relationship in high school with James DiSimone. He was the star Quarterback and led out team to 3 consecutive state titles. I was shocked that he would date a black girl though but nonetheless he was a sweetheart until he left for USC. He cheated on me with the high school slut Melissa Holmes. I was depressed for quite sometime but I eventually got over it and just went on with my life at Temple. She follows me into my room and noticed the dress bag and shoe box on the bed. "What's this?"_

"_Gideon wants me to accompany him to some charity event. I've never been to a fancy dinner party before. I was more so worried about what the hell to wear because you know me. Besides the work clothes I own, I don't own fancy dresses." I said with a small snicker. Sam picked up the dress bag and unzipped it._

"_Oh my God Nelly! This dress is beautiful! Have you seen it yet?" I shook my head trying to get my bathroom stuff in a neat pile. I turn around and I'm speechless. The dress was beautiful. It was a champagne colored one shoulder dress that looked like it hugged me in the middle and was really flowed at the bottom. It had swarovski crystals all over the dress. "Open up the shoes!" I ran to the box and opened the cloth bag. I nearly fainted when I opened the bag._

"_He...got...me...YSL shoes Sam!" I said with a little voice. The room was spinning. I've always wanted a pair of Yves Saint-Laurent shoes._

"_YSL? As in Yves Saint-Laurent?" She said. I held up the very sparkly shoe and she screamed! "Girl you need to get ready like right now. She's right but I still have a spa day to attend to. _

_It's 4:30 in the afternoon and Sam and I just walked back in from the spa. I feel so much better. I feel light and thanks to that damn Brazilian, I'm feeling a bit turned on. I take a shower with a shower cap on so I don't mess up my curls. 15 minutes later, I'm standing in my room with just a towel on and I can't stop looking at this dress. I decide to match my strapless bra, panties and garters to the dress. I put it on and I'm can't believe what I am seeing in the mirror. Sam comes in and she is floored._

"_So what do you think?" I ask her. She couldn't formulate words at first but then she picked up her jaw from the floor._

"_You look stunning Chanelle!" I look at the clock and there was a knock on the apartment door. We both smiled. "He is right on time." Sam said as she shut the door to my room. I can hear Gideon talking to Sam. I am putting the finally touches to my makeup and let out a heavy sigh. I slid into my shoes and walked out into the living room. He turned around and begins to smile._

"_I must thank my personal shopper. This was a very good choice especially with your skin color. You look absolutely incredible Chanelle." I smile and look into his eyes._

"_Thanks Gideon. Are you ready?" I ask him putting the last thing in my champagne clutch._

"_Yes I am Ms. Howard-Jones." He says extending his elbow to me._

"_Ms. Howard. Mrs. Howard-Jones is my mother." I say with a smile. "Sammy I'll be back later. Tell everyone I said hi and I can't wait to meet them." Sammy waved to me and like that we were off. We get down to the first floor and I can feel eyes all on me. We walk out and I see a limo waiting for us. I smile at the driver and slide in. I see Gideon and the door closes. We begin to pull off in New York traffic._

"_So, I have never been to a charity dinner before. How do these things normally go?"_

"_Well, since I am a very well known man so, people will be wanting to take pictures and there are people that I need to speak to." He goes on and on about what normally happens at these events and by him telling me, I'm exhausted. We reach the event and there is a red carpet. "Are you ready?" Gideon squeezes my hand and I nod. The door opens and Gideon gets out and then helps me out of the car. The abundant amount of flash photography going on blinded me but I manage to get through it all. We finally made it in the building and I begin to marvel at the architecture. I was walking without knowing where I was going. I bumped into a hard body and stumbled backwards._

"_Whoa! Are you okay?" A pair of blue eyes locked with mine. Not as blue as Gideon's but equally amazing and it felt like I was frozen in time. "Hey! Are you alright? Are you hurt?" I shake my head and held my head._

"_Yeah. I'm fine thank you." I walk away and try to find Gideon. I felt a pair of hands on my lower back and I stiffen but suddenly relax. Gideon walks around me and hands me a glass of champagne._

"_It seems you are the talk among the men Chanelle." My face heats up and I end up downing my drink._

"_Oh really? How so?" Gideon laughs and turns me around and points with his chin._

"_The guy you ran into. That is professor Gabriel O. Emerson. Dante' Specialist at the University of Toronto." He says with a subtle scoff._

"_As in Dante' Alighieri's 'The Divine Comedy' Dante' Specialist?" I ask with excitement._

"_Yes! You know about The Divine Comedy?" Gideon asked._

"_Know it? I love it! I read it in school. It actually made me want to learn Italian so I can read the original copy. Can you introduce me to him?" I asked but I can see the hesitation in Gideon's face._

"_I don't want you near him Chanelle. I have my reasons so don't ask." Geez! What crawled up his ass?_

"_I have to use the bathroom. I'll be right back." Gideon kissed my cheek and I walked off. I get to the bathroom and I feel someone grab my arm. I am spun around and I see this really gorgeous brunette. She looks to be Hispanic but I'm not sure. "Can I help you?"_

"_Forgive me. My name is Magdalene Perez. A good friend of Gideon's. My oh my Gideon sure knows how to pick them." I narrow my eyes at her. Slowly the Philly girl is starting to rear her ugly head._

"_Excuse me?" I say with attitude._

"_And she has a smart mouth! So have you and Gideon..." I cut her off right there because I know where that is heading._

"_That's none of your fucking concern! If you'll excuse I need to use the bathroom." I bump pass her and she chuckles._

"_He will toss you like the trash you are. You are nothing but a worthless whore!" I turn around and walk back to her. I am now nose to nose with her. I cock my hand back to slap her and someone stops me. It's not Gideon's hand though._

"_Leave her alone. Go somewhere else!" That voice. It sounds familiar. Magdalene smiles and walks off. I turn around and I see Professor Emerson standing tall. He releases my hand and smiles. "You know you are too gorgeous to be in fights." I'm in awe of this man._

"_You're...You're..." Fuck! I can't speak._

"_I'm Gabriel Emerson and you are?" He says calmly. I shake my head._

"_I'm sorry! I'm Chanelle Howard-Jones. Sorry! I just found out about you and I have to say that I am a huge fan of Dante'." He smiles._

"_Oh really. Well, I'm in New York for awhile." He hands me a piece of paper with a number. "Call me. I would love to discuss your version of Dante' with you." I blush as he walks away. I really need to pee. I run to the bathroom and use it! After I clean up, I walk out the door only to be taken away by a furious Gideon. Yup! Something has crawled up his ass and now has died!_

"_Gideon! Slow down! I can't walk fast in these heels." I say as I try to keep up with him. He isn't speaking to me. "Gideon! I said slow down. I'll fall in these!" We reached the doors of the place and I fall slamming my knee into the marble. I'm screaming because the pain is unbearable. Tears are streaming out of my eyes. Gideon turns around and picks me up and carries me out. He puts me in the limo not minding my knee. I let out another scream as the pain shoots up my leg. "GIDEON WHAT THE FUCK IS YOUR ISSUE?!" I yell out._

"_I SPECIFICALLY TOLD YOU TO STAY AWAY FROM EMERSON AND YOU DECIDE TO TALK TO HIM ANYWAY!" He yells back. Oh no! Not having this right now!_

"_OH SO IT'S PERFECTLY ACCEPTABLE TO HAVE YOUR "FRIEND" COME UP TO ME AND CALL ME A WORTHLESS WHORE THOUGH?" He looked at me and tilted his head. _

"_What friend Chanelle?" He asked with concern._

"_Magdalene Perez. You know what? Just take me home. I don't feel like dealing with this tonight." I say as I try to move my leg. The pain is too much and I begin to cry again. _

"_Chanelle. I..." He touches my arm and I snatched it back._

"_It is in your best interest not to touch me right now Gideon!" I snapped back. We finally reached my apartment. I messaged Sammy to meet me outside to help me up to the apartment. She opened my side and pulled me out. Gideon got out and she shot him a look._

"_Gideon get back in the limo. I got it from here!" Sammy put her arm around my waist and I limped into the apartment building. I'm leave Philadelphia to get away from drama and yet the bitch follows me to New York and takes on a new form. She opens the door to the apartment and walks me to the couch._

"_Ok. Let's take a look at that knee." She pulls up my dress and I look down. Damn that is a huge bruise. I slammed my head back on the pillow. Sammy runs to the kitchen and grabs the ice pack out of the freezer._

"_Sammy. Can you help me into the room. I just want to go to bed and forget about tonight." She nods and picks me up. She helps me out of my dress and slides on my sweats carefully._

"_Goodnight baby girl!" She says smiling._

"_Goodnight Sammy!" I say and like that I nod off. The next morning, I wake up cold. I forgot that I had the ice pack under my knee. I take a sniff and my room smells like flowers. I slowly turn around and noticed that my room is filled with at least 8 dozen white roses. I look in the corner and see a sleeping Gideon still in his tuxedo from last night. How did he get in here? I can't be completely mad at him. He looks adorable sleeping. I text Sammy._

"_**Hey! How long has he been in my room?"**_

_She replies 5 minutes later._

"_**He has been in there since 1:30 this morning. I told him to go home but he insisted on sleeping in the room with you plus he sounded a bit intoxicated. Then before I left for work, your roses came in and I moved them into your room. You both are made for each other. You sleep like hibernating bears lol."**_

_I have to remind myself to slap her later. I sit up on the bed with my back flat against the headboard and I stare at how cute and peaceful he is. I don't want to wake him but he needs to get up. I throw my small Hello Kitty plush at him and he snaps awake. He looks around and rubs his eyes._

"_Good morning Mr. Cross." I say with my arms folded. _


End file.
